SHINKU ARASHI
by DarkSamuraiX1999
Summary: Things don't always go the way they're planned. And after Naruto's attempt to stop Mizuki fails, he's about to learn why the Yondaime's sealing of Kyuubi didn't go as planned either. NaruHina, NaruHarem later.
1. Prologue

_Hello everyone! This is my second Naruto fic, I decided to start on a second one because, well. I don't know why, the idea of another fic has always been on my mind. And I sorta wanted a short a break from working on _A Promise to Stay Alive.

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'talk': Thought

_I don't own Naruto._

Prologue

There Naruto stood staring at Mizuki triumphantly as his army of Kage Bunshins surrounded the traitor. Naruto had just found out the reason for why the village had always hated him, he was the container of "Kyuubi no Yoko." But at this point Naruto didn't care; he had a traitor to take down and had one his precious people to save.

"Mizuki-teme, if you lay one hand on Iruka-sensei. I will kill you!!" The army of Naruto bunshins shouted in unison.

"You don't scare me you damn demon brat! I'll make sure to…" Mizuki was cut off.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!! I've had enough of your crap!" The Naruto bunshins screamed out.

With that said the bunsins charged in, at first it seemed that Mizuki wasn't having much trouble dealing with the bunshins. He had successfully destroyed a few of them, but in a matter of moments Mizuki was overwhelmed.

Mizuki lay there on the ground face down bruised and beaten. His face was swollen and his nose was broken. The army of bunshins stood there victoriously with a grin that stretched across their faces.

"Naruto! That was amazing you actually mastered a jutsu from the "Scroll of Sealing." Iruka said proud of Naruto.

"It was nothing, though I think I went a little too far." Naruto said grinning.

"Come here Naruto, there something I want to give you."

XXXXXXXXXX

In the Hokage Tower, Sarutobi stared at his crystal ball. He was proud of what Naruto did, he knew that Minato would proud of his son if he saw this.

"Naruto, you have come a long way. You will be great I can see it."

Sarutobi then noticed that Mizuki was getting back up, the man was barely standing since Naruto and his bunshins broke or fractured a majority of his bones.

"Hmm, now what could that traitor be thinking. He can barely stand, oh well I suppose another beating from Naruto would seem app…" Sarutobi stopped as he saw Mizuki pull out a vile of some kind of strange liquid.

XXXXXXXXXX

"You damn demon brat! I will make you pay for that…"

Naruto and Iruka stared as Mizuki downed the vile of the strange liquid. All of a sudden Mizuki's injuries started to heal. His bones snapping back into place and his bruises disappearing, suddenly his chakra could be felt as it started to increase at a fast rate. Mizuki's body mass began to increase, his muscles started to grow phenomenally, Mizuki grew taller as well. His vest and shirt ripped off from the sheer amount of muscle mass he was gaining. Soon fur started to grow all over his body, Mizuki was starting to resemble a tiger. When his transformation was complete Mizuki was now a hulking animal like behemoth.

"NOW DEMON, IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO DIE!" Mizuki shouted as he charged towards Naruto and Iruka.

Iruka managed to get up and tried to block Mizuki. But the move was futile as Mizuki effortlessly threw Iruka into a tree. Mizuki then proceeded to grab Naruto by the face and smashed him into various trees and then into the ground.

"Naruto!!" Iruka screamed out Naruto's name while struggling to get up.

Mizuki was about to stomp on the beaten Naruto, he sent his foot into Naruto only for the blonde to burst into smoke.

POOF!

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!"

Mizuki once again was surrounded by another army of Naruto bunshins. This time though Mizuki had a murderous grin on his face.

"What's so funny Mizuki-teme?"

"WHAT'S FUNNY IS YOUR JUTSU ISN'T GOING TO WORK ON ME TWICE DEMON. NOW THAT I HAVE THE POWER OROCHIMARU-SAMA GAVE ME."

Before Naruto could ask who Orochimaru was Mizuki tore through Naruto's bunshins. It seemed nothing could stop him, even after Mizuki was hit with a wave of shurikens. He still continued to charge forward. What little taijutsu that Naruto knew didn't help either.

"Shit! Shit! What the hell am I gonna do now?! My bunshins aren't enough against him!" Naruto said to himself panicking.

"Dammit! I have to help Naruto but I can barely move!" Iruka screamed out still struggling to get up.

Mizuki destroyed the rest of the bunshins, he then grabbed Naruto by the neck and picked him up. Mizuki stared at Naruto with a look of psychotic bloodlust.

"NOW DEMON I WILL FINALLY KILL YOU AND I WILL BECOME A HERO OF KONOHA."

Mizuki brought up his left hand and flexed it. Extending his claws, Mizuki grinned at Naruto.

"ANY LAST WORDS BAKEMONO?"

'I can't believe this is it…oh well if I'm gonna die now…then I'll do it pissing this bastard off…' Naruto said mentally.

"Yeah I got something to say…" Naruto bought up his hand and extended his middle finger, "Go fuck yourself!"

Mizuki's grin was replaced by a look of pure anger. Mizuki then thrust his hand forward. His claws penetrated Naruto's chest and tore through his lungs barely missing his heart. Naruto coughed up a torrent of blood and his face showed pure pain.

"I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU INSTANTLY BY DESTROYING YOUR HEART, BUT I WOULD MUCH RATHER WATCH YOU SUFFER FOR A LITTLE BIT MORE."

"Naruto!! Nooo!!" Iruka screamed tears falling from his eyes as he saw Naruto slowly die.

"I'm gonna miss you Iruka-sensei…Sarutobi…ojii-san…Ayame-chan…Teuchi-san…" Naruto slowly drifted away from consciousness as Mizuki tossed his now nearly lifeless body aside.

XXXXXXXXXX

"……………"

"……………"

Naruto felt water around his body; he got up and slowly opened his eyes.

"Where the hell am I?" Naruto asked himself as he got up to check out his surroundings.

He soon found himself in what looked like a sewer of sorts. The walls were made of stone and the ceilings were lined with a complex series of pipelines. Naruto walked around and noticed that his mortal wound was no longer on his chest.

"What the hell! Didn't I have a gaping hole in my chest? And where's Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-teme? Am I in the afterlife or something?" Naruto asked himself as he continued to travel around the sewer like halls.

Naruto navigated around every corner and every turn, with no general direction to head towards. Until Naruto felt some kind of strong presence, Naruto started to run towards whatever it was. Rounding corners and running through the water covered floor. Until finally Naruto found what he had felt and what he was looking for.

"What is this?!"

In front Naruto was a massive barred gate with a parchment on the locks with the kanji that read "seal." Behind the gates was darkness, Naruto couldn't see anything beyond the gate. Then suddenly Naruto saw a pair of large glowing red eyes with black slits appear.

"_**KIT COME HERE**_…"

Naruto hesitantly approached the gates and looked at the eyes staring at him. In the blink of an eye massive claws lashed out at Naruto but were stopped by the gates bar.

CRASH!!

"WHOAAA!!"

"_**DAMMIT I WANT TO EAT YOU KIT, BUT THIS DAMN SEAL IS IN MY WAY**_."

"So you're the "Kyuubi no Yoko?" You're the reason why I have suffered all my life. You…" Kyuubi cut off Naruto.

"_**KIT TELL SOMEBODY WHO CARES**_."

"FUCK YOU! YOU STUPID FOX!" Naruto quickly lashed out at the Kyuubi.

"_**WATCH YOUR TONGUE OR ELSE I WILL**_…"

"_Urusai Kitsune-baka! I will not have you talk to him like that_!"

Naruto looked around to see where the voice came from.

"Who said that?!'

"_Who do you think? I did._"

Naruto looked to see that the voice came from the seal on the gate that held back the Kyuubi.

"Wha…what are you?!" Naruto jumped back pointing at the seal.

"_What do you m…oh right this form…wait up for a sec…_"

The seal stopped speaking for a moment and suddenly there was a bright yellow light. Naruto moved his hand to his eyes to block out the bright blinding light. When the light disappeared in place of the seal and bars was a man with blonde spiky hair. He was wearing a standard Jounin uniform and over it was some kind of cape/coat. It was white with red flames on the sleeves and the bottom of the coat/cape. The man had on a black clothed Konoha hitai-ate. It didn't take long for Naruto to realize who he was.

"You're…you're the…"

"_Hello Naruto, I am the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. Or better yet, I am your father Naruto. I was the one to seal the Kyuubi inside of you."_

AN:_ Well there you go my new project. If you are wondering about it, this is a Naruharem story. And there won't be any votes on pairings yet. As far as who will be with Naruto, it's already mostly decided. _


	2. Truth Behind the Seal

AN: Here's another chapter for Shinku Arashi. I'm still working on A Promise to Stay Alive. So don'tworry okay.

_You know what I don't own, so don't sue me. And if you do well then, Goddamn it all too fucking hell._

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'talk': Thought

"_Talk": _Minato, Toads

Chapter 1: Truth behind the Seal

"You're my what?!"

"_I said I'm your father_."

"But your last name is Namikaze…"

"_Uzumaki is your mother's maiden name; to keep it a secret of who you really are we had you take on your mother's name."_ Minato said to Naruto who was still trying to comprehend what he was being told; suddenly he felt anger build up inside of him.

"You bastard!! Why did you do this to me?! Your own son and how come no one has told me about my parents?!"

"_**BWAHAHAHA!! I TOLD YOU YOUR SON WOULD HATE YOU! MY ASS YOUR SON WOULD UNDERSTAND THE CIRCUMSTAN…"**_

"Shut up you stupid fox! I didn't say I hated my father, I want to know why me dammit!!"

"_Well Naruto that's why I'm talking to you now, I'm going to tell y…"_ Minato was interrupted by a pissed off fox.

"_**YOU LITTLE SHIT! I'M NOT GONNA HAVE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!!" **_Kyuubi growled at Naruto bearing his fangs and charged forward ready to eat Naruto.

"_Didn't I already say for you to shut up Kitsune-baka?" _

Minato calmly brought up his right hand and punched Kyuubi in the nose. Kyuubi was stopped in place and growled at Minato.

"_**DAMN YOU! IF YOU WEREN'T THE "SEAL" I WOULD HAVE…"**_

"_You would have what? I am the seal so get used to it! And you know what? Stop assuming that damn fox form, your original body was destroyed when Shinnigami-sama extracted your sprit from your body so there is no point in standing around as a giant fox."_

Naruto was starting to get rather confused from the argument the Kyuubi and his father, the Yondaime were having.

"_**ALRIGHT FINE…"**_

The Kyuubi paused for a moment and soon his entire fox body radiated blood red chakra. When the chakra receded in Kyuubi's place was rather tall man with long spiky blood red hair with black streaks, fox ears and nine red tails behind him. The man seemed to have a feral look to him; his skin had a rather dark complexion. He also had the same whisker marks as Naruto but was wider and more prominent. His eyes were blood red with black slits instead of irises and his hands had sharp looking claws for nails. His outfit consisted of a pitch-black kimono and black hakama. Over it he wore a blood red kataginu that had the kanji for nine. Over his outfit he wore armor similar to what the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage's once wore.

"_**You wanted me to be in my human form? Well here you are asshole, happy?"**_

"_Actually yes, now then Naruto…"_

"What the fuck!! The seal is gone there's nothing holding Kyuubi back!!"

At hearing Naruto's panicked reaction Minato could only laugh at his son's misconception. While Kyuubi merely had a sweat droplet come down his head.

"What the hell is so funny?!"

"_Sorry about that son, it's just; did you actually think that the seal holding Kyuubi back was a gate with a piece of paper on it? It's just your subconscious initial interpretation of what the Kyuubi's prison looks like. Now that you're here we can change that image."_

Naruto just merely stood there somewhat dumbfounded and didn't say much else.

"_Well there is a lot I need to tell you and a lot you want to know. But for now I'll tell you how the furball and I got here." _Naruto stared at his father for a moment.

"Furball?"

"_Furball, it's a nickname I gave Kyuubi a while back."_

"_**Damn you! I thought you would stop calling me that once I went into my human form." **_

"_That's what I thought too, but since you have those fox tails and ears. Well I suppose the name will stay." _Minato grinned at Kyuubi obviously trying to and successfully pissing him off.

"_**Smartass punk…"**_

"_Anyway…Alright Naruto as you know twelve years ago on October 10th, "Kyuubi no Yoko" attacked Konoha. It was the night you were born and..." _

_"...Unfortunately… your mother passed away due to complications of labor…" _Naruto could see the look of sadness in his father's eyes. It was too much for the young blonde as tears started to fall from his eyes. Naruto never knew who is parents were and thought that they were killed by Kyuubi during the attack. Though deep down Naruto had feared that his parents had abandoned him because of what was inside of him. But now that he knew his mother passed away bringing him into this world, the floodgates opened.

"I-I'm sorry…"

"_Naruto what's wro…" _

"It was all my fault wasn't it?! Mom died because of me…sniff…I should have ne…"

"_Don't you dare say it!!" _

Minato shouted, his face showing anger. Not at his son but at himself for even implying to his own son it might have been his fault, for the loss of Kushina. Minato grabbed his son and pulled him into a hug.

"_Don't you dare say that…it wasn't your fault Naruto, none of it ever was your fault. Your mother would have given anything to have you brought into this world and she did give everything to bring you here…So don't ruin your mother's sacrifice by saying you wish you were never born." _As Minato said it a few tears fell from his eyes.

After a few moments of silence Kyuubi decided to interrupt the father-son moment of healing.

"_**YAAWWNNNN!! Boy as much as I like to see a father and son hug and shit. This is getting really boring, and even though time goes so much slower here I think "we" as in you, have some things to tell your son, so we don't all die."**_

"_Furball how many times do I have to tell you to shut the hell the up?"_

"_**I can say whatever the hell I want! You may be the seal but that doesn't mean that you can control what I say so…"**_

BAM!!

Kyuubi was unable to finish what he was saying because of a drop kick to the face.

"_**You son of a bitch I'm gonna kill you!" **_

"_Bring it on fox boy!"_

At this point Minato and Kyuubi were at each other's throats. They weren't actually "fighting, fighting". It was more like "playground fighting" sorta. They were punching, kicking, pulling, slapping, spiting, and name calling, kneeing in the genitals and…biting?!

"_Ahhh! You stupid fox you actually bit me!"_

"_**Ha! That's what happens when you fight a…"**_

CHOMP!!

"_**Ahhhhh!! You fucker, you bit my tail!"**_

Naruto stood there with a sweat drop down the side of his head. The ridiculousness of the fight just seemed too awkward for the young blonde.

"Somehow I have a feeling my dad and furball were doing this long before I came to "visit." Naruto deadpanned to himself.

"Umm, guys…"

"_**You are dead, dead…!"**_

BAM!!

"_Come on bitch!"_

SMASH!!

SMACK!!

A vein bulged out the side of Naruto's head as his father and Kyuubi continued screaming and hitting each other.

"WILL YOU GUYS QUIT IT!!?" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs with his head seemingly increasing in size. Minato and Kyuubi only stared at Naruto somewhat nervously, while still having their fists cocked back at each other and holding onto the others collar. Both Minato and Kyuubi had black eyes and bruises all over.

"_Sorry about that son, my bad." _Minato stared at Kyuubi for a while and lightly nudged him with his elbow.

"_**What? What are you looking at me for, I ain't sorry. You started it and your son is the last pers…"**_

BAM!

Minato punched Kyuubi right in the nose.

"DAD!"

"_What? He was ask…whoa!"_

SPWISSH!

Minato suddenly found himself with his back in the water, due to one of Kyuubi's tails yanking him to off his feet.

"FURBALL!" Naruto screamed at Kyuubi.

"_**Ha! That's what you get for the sucker pun…"**_

"BOTH OF YOU STOP IT! I swear you guys are like hopeless brothers."

After Minato got back on his feet he and Kyuubi stared at each other and made aggressive growls. They both then turned to Naruto while pointing fingers at each other.

"_**WE ARE NOT BOTHERS!!"**_

"_WE ARE NOT BROTHERS!!" _

Both Minato and Kyuubi screamed out at the same time.

"Dad didn't you say you were going to tell me how you and the furball got here?"

"_Right sorry about that son, as I was saying earlier…" _Minato started to walk back to Naruto when he felt a hand slap the back of his head.

Minato turned to see a smirking Kyuubi. Minato then held up his fist ready to punch the fox when he remembered he had to tell his son what happened twelve years ago.

"_As I was saying the night Kyuubi attacked you were born. Konoha had actually received advanced warning of Kyuubi's approach, well if you can consider a day, as advanced warning. Everyone in the village was panicking; personally I was more concerned about why Kyuubi was coming here…" _Minato took a moment to look at Kyuubi.

"_**You're still going on about that crap, che." **_Kyuubi snorted and looked away.

"Wait what do you mean the reasons why Kyuubi came?"

"_Don't worry about that now son; I'll get to that when the time is right. Now back to what I was saying. With only one day to prepare, Konoha had gathered up their forces and I had to figure out how to stop Kyuubi. Problem was there had never been anyone to have killed a demon of Kyuubi's caliber." _Kyuubi smirked at what Minato said.

"_There was one person who could stop Kyuubi but he passed away quite some time ago. However there was one thing I could use, it was a jutsu my family had been working on for some time. It was a sealing jutsu that could successfully seal the soul or spirit of anyone or anything and guarantee the death of the sealed. This was the Fuuinjutsu known as the "Shiki Fuujin"_ (Corpse Spirit Sealing Method)_."_

"_The jutsu worked by summoning the Shinnigami and by sacrificing my soul I could extract the soul or in this case Kyuubi's spirit and seal him inside of me. Once the Shinnigami did his job I would die. By doing this Kyuubi would be locked away inside of me, sealed and unable to do anything about it. And being sealed inside of me, when I die so would Kyuubi…"_

"Which would be the moment the Shinnigami successfully seals the furball your soul is taken away?"

"_Exactly, see I knew you weren't entirely the idiot you made yourself out to be. And yes that is how the jutsu worked. The only problem was the jutsu was never fully perfected, or there never were any records of the completion. I wasn't too surprised, kinda hard to perfect a sealing jutsu that kills the sealer."_

"Well I guess that makes sense, but how did I come into this picture?"

"_As I said the Shiki Fuujin was still experimental, there was no full guarantee it would work. So I couldn't use the original version, it was too much of a gamble to try and seal the Kyuubi and fail. Also there was one other problem about the jutsu, during the extraction process of Kyuubi's spirit; Kyuubi could still attack me while the extraction was active. And if I die before the jutsu finishes then the extraction would stop where it was at. Kyuubi would lose a part of itself but not all of it."_

"_So there was another option, I figured that I could alter the jutsu so that there would be a guarantee that Kyuubi could be sealed away successfully, even if I die. The only drawback would have been Kyuubi wouldn't have died with me."_

"So that was where I came in?"

"_Yes, I realized that while the Kyuubi could be sealed inside of you. His power could be put to greater good. So I decided that once Kyuubi was sealed inside of you I would or have Sarutobi add the "Hakke no Fuuin Shiki"_ (Eight Divination Signs Seal Style) _and the "Shishou Fuuin"_ (Four Image Seal)_. By doing this you would have access to Kyuubi's chakra."_

"Wait, what do you mean by Sarutobi could add the other seals? I thought you put the seals?"

"_Well the thing was I had no intention of using the sealing ritual if I could beat Kyuubi. I would only seal Kyuubi as my last option."_

"_**Too bad for you, you couldn't beat me and that's when you and I ended up in your son." **_

"_Yes we all know that happened. But like I said I would fight Kyuubi until I was out of options. I knew that the alterations to the jutsu would finish extracting Kyuubi even if I died, so long as you were still alive Naruto."_

"So you fought Kyuubi and failed, then you summoned the Shinnigami and then you died from your wounds, so Sarutobi-ojiisan applied the seals when the extraction was done."

"_Well that was the plan…"_

"What do you mean?"

"_Like I said that was the plan…"_

Flashback

…12 years ago…

The forests of Konoha were always a peaceful place to go to. It was quiet and beautiful and full of life. However during this night there was nothing but death and destruction. Everywhere the bodies of the dead laid, trees were burning or knocked down. And in the center of it all was the giant nine tailed fox, "Kyuubi no Yoko."

The fox demon lashed out his claws at a fast moving object. A blur that seemed to be causing the fox a great deal of anger, as it continued to attack it. Suddenly a massive blue orb was seen flying straight into Kyuubi.

"Chou Oodama Rasengan!!"(Ultra-Big Ball Spiral Sphere)

The orb smashed into Kyuubi's face and he screamed in pain. Jumping back down the object could be seen as the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. He could barely stand due to his exhaustion and injuries. Minato's student Kakashi came running to his sensei's side. He was holding a newborn baby wrapped in a white blanket.

"Minato-sensei! Are you alright?" Kakashi asked his sensei while holding his newborn son.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!! It looks like I'm at my limit…even with the "Sennin Moodo" (Hermit Mode) I can't defeat the Kyuubi…"

"_We're sorry Minato-chan, Ma and I tried our best." _A toad with large white eyebrows on Minato's right shoulder said.

"_So it looks like you're going to use your final plan, huh Minato-chan?" _The toad on Minato's other shoulder asked.

"It looks that way; well it's time to finish this." Minato said while Kyuubi's wound was now fully healed. The demon fox, rather than go after the weakened Hokage, instead continued on his destructive path to Konoha.

"Please Minato-sensei don't do this! There has to be another way." Kakashi tried to stop his sensei.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, but there is no other option." Minato said with a level of calm and acceptance with the sacrifice that he would need to make to save the village he loved so much.

"Please don't do this, I can perform the jutsu. You have to live sensei, for the village and for your son!" Kakashi continued to beg Minato.

"No Kakashi, I have to do this and don't forget you have to stay alive for Rin." With that said, Minato went through a series of seals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

POOF!!

"_Oi, Minato why have you summoned me? What the…you summoned Ma and Pa?! It must be that bad huh?"_

"Don't worry about it Boss, this fight is almost over. Ma and Pa did their part." Minato looked at Kakashi.

"This is goodbye Kakashi; you were one of my best students. Don't worry I'll be seeing Obito soon."

Minato took his son in his arms and hopped on to Gamabunta's head. Kakashi only stood there staring at his sensei. Maybe the greatest man to ever live, was now about to make the greatest sacrifice.

"Well Ma, Pa. I don't need you guys where I'm going. You guys can go home now." As Minato said his goodbye, his son Naruto began to move his arms.

"_Aww, Pa look at that little bundle of joy. Reminds me of Bunta when he was just a tadpole." _Ma said as she let little Naruto grab her small hands.

"_Yes, he is adorable. Minato you can tell that greatness awaits your son." _Pa said.

"Yes greatness and hardship awaits my son. I didn't believe what the Elder Sage Toad said to me. But it looks like everything is coming true. It's a shame I won't be able to see what will happen to my son." Minato said to himself.

"Well Ma, I'm gonna miss your cooking. Pa I'm gonna miss all that arguing you always have with Jiraiya-sensei."

"_Were going to miss you too Minato-chan." _Ma said.

"_Goodbye Minato-chan. Bunta make sure Minato-chan accomplishes his task."_ With the last words said, Ma and Pa disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Let's go Boss; we have a fox to seal."

"_I hear you Minato." _

As Gamabunta chased after Kyuubi to intercept him, Minato looked at his baby boy. He stared at him, his son awake with his eyes wide open. Blue eyes met blue eyes, and Minato couldn't help but feel his heartbreak.

Even though Minato had received a day's worth of time to prepare for battle against Kyuubi, in actuality he had received indirect warning about the attack when he first visited the Elder Toad Sage when he was a chuunin.

"My son, I pray that you will be seen as the hero you are meant to be. You will have to deal with so much in your life. My only regret is that I won't be there for you…" Minato had tears falling from his eyes.

For a moment it seemed like there was no fox or chaos going about. For a few moments it seemed to Minato it was only himself and his son and nothing else.

"_Oi, Minato demon fox dead ahead!" _Bunta yelled out to Minato, snapping back to reality.

Gamabunta leaped in front of Kyuubi. Minato then looked at the fox's red slit eyes with nothing but determination.

"It ends here Kyuubi!"

"_**BWAHAHAHA!! YOU STILL BELIEVE YOU CAN STOP ME. YOU CANNOT KILL THE "KYUUBI NO YOKO!!"**_

Minato put his son down in front of him; he quickly went through a series of complex seals.

"Who said anything about killing you?"

"Shiki Fuujin!!"

In the moments that followed the Shinnigami appeared behind Minato. The death god's hand reached forward and went through Minato. However because the alterations made to the jutsu, the Shinnigami's hand emerged from Naruto's stomach.

Before Kyuubi could realize what was about to happen. The Shinnigami's hand grabbed Kyuubi. Slowly paralyzing the fox demon, the fox thrashed around violently. Trying to break free from the death hold it was now under. Everything was being destroyed by the fox's thrashing but it did nothing to stop what was happening.

"_**DAMN YOU HOKAGE!! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED!!"**_

Minato was barely standing now; his wounds were now getting to him. Minato knew his time was coming. But he was relieved that he did what was needed to be done. As Minato started to lose consciousness he said to himself.

"Live on my son, my legacy…Kushina-chan I'll be seeing…you soon…" Minato collapsed as the Shinnigami continued to pull out the Kyuubi's sprit slowly destroying the demon foxes body in the process.

XXXXXXXXXX

"………"

"………"

Minato woke up to the sound of a baby crying, he got up to see his son crying.

"Na-Naruto?"

Minato looked around and saw that his son was crying, but that was all he saw. It appeared that Minato was surrounded in darkness, until he heard the sound of tapping, the sound of fingers tapping.

Minato turned around and was face to face with the Shinnigami. Minato was really surprised to see the death god. But that surprise turned to nervousness and fear, as he noticed that the Shinnigami was the one tapping his fingers and arms folded.

He never in his life thought he would see an agitated look in the death gods menacing face. Considering that the Shinnigami always had that menacing grin and tanto in his mouth.

"Shi-Shinningmai-sa…sama?" Minato asked nervously, knowing something had to have gone wrong.

"**That would be me Minato-san. Do you know why you're standing in front of me, other than the obvious fact that you are dead?"**

"I really don't know, unless something went wrong with the summoning?"

"**Oh dead on the money, something wrong did happen with the seal. Namely you and the changes you made to my summoning. You remember what your family scrolls said about using this jutsu?"**

"Ah if you're referring to the proverb it was, "_Those who are sealed with this technique can never go to Heaven, and instead suffer inside the Death God's stomach. The souls of the sealer and the sealed are entwined in hate...and are forever locked in combat._" That was how it went."

"**Yes that is how the phrase goes. Do you know what it means aside from eternal damnation? It means that I get two souls. Because the one who summons me has to die, and the one sealed dies with the summoner. But do you see something wrong with this picture, hmm?" **Minato paused for a little bit, even though he was considered a genius of Konoha. There were times when he really couldn't put "one and one" together.

"OH SHIT!!"

"**Ah, now you understand the situation. See you're here but where is Kyuubi, I wonder."**

"Oh crap…"

"**See when I am summoned I seal something and I get two souls. I only got one in front of me. You do realize that this counts as trying to cheat death, right? And you don't even need to tell me where Yoko-san is at. You sealed him in your son."**

"Please Shinnigami-sama you have to understand the circumstances. I had no other choice. I had to figure out a way to seal Kyuubi; my only option wasn't even a guarantee and had a high chance to fail. I had to alter the jutsu…"

"**I can be a considerate being at times, however I don't like to be cheated."**

"Then if you want two souls, then take Kyuubi out of my son. And just leave Naruto be."

"**If only it were that simple, but those two are bound together now. Even with my power, your son would still be dead either way." **Minato could only stare at the ground in defeat. Even after all of this his son would die.

"**However there is something's I would like to say and propose. First off, I may be the God of Death. But I am by no means a cruel and evil being. Because death is a natural part of existence and it is with "life" a part of the same whole. I am also at times and somewhat regrettably a compassionate being. Whereas I let the death of a baby occurs time and time again because it happens and I must not interfere. I will not take the life of one's child myself." **

"Are you saying you will spare my son?"

"**I wouldn't put it that way; I am not going to kill your son, however since you involved your son in the sealing. His afterlife has been damned, so when he dies not only will Yoko-san suffer his damnation, so will your son."**

"I see, I understand. I wish there was a way I could tell my son this myself. However I'm already dead and my son isn't anywhere near the age to comprehend any of this…"

"**Yes that is most unfortunate. However I am also aware of your little plan that you had to "put Kyuubi's power to a greater use." Now to me, it sounds like you were trying to give a human the near power of a god. However did you ever think that your son could say be corrupted by Yoko-san or even without that be tempted to use the biju's power for something far from a "greater good."**

"I…well…"

Minato was at a loss of words, even though Minato had received warning of a great task that would involve himself and his son. He had completely forgotten about the possible negative ramifications of his actions.

"**Which this of course brings me back to the proposal I mentioned, there is a way for you to tell your son what will happen to him and watch over him as he goes through his life."**

"And what is it exactly?"

"**I can change the seal on your son. Rather than have a series of complex seals placed on your son that could break. I can use you and the immense amount of chakra you posses to make you into the seal that will restrain Yoko-san."**

"So I'm going to be the seal? Does that mean I'll be the one that also controls Kyuubi's flow of chakra into my son?"

"**Precisely, you will be able to have a direct link to your son once he enters his mindscape for the first time. You will be able to regulate the flow of demonic chakra into your son. Also with you to watch over him, you can guide and make sure that the power of a biju isn't abused by a human."**

Minato thought about it for a moment. It seemed Minato would be able to watch over his son after all.

'Maybe this great task the Elder Toad Sage told me about was more than just a warning about the sacrifices we would have to make. Maybe my role in all of this isn't over yet.' Minato thought to himself.

"Alright Shinnigami-sama, I'll do it. I will become the seal."

"**Good then there isn't much to time to delay." **

With the motion of the Shinnigami's hand, a bright light shined. And the two then disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXXX

In the aftermath of Kyuubi's attack baby Naruto lay on the ground wrapped in a blanket crying. Kakashi rushed to the scene and saw the son of his sensei lying there. Not knowing where his sensei's body lay. Kakashi picked up Naruto and ran back to Konoha, knowing that the Sandaime had to apply the additional seals if his sensei didn't.

XXXXXXXXXX

After a little while in the Hokage's office, an exhausted Kakashi was standing near the reinstated Hokage. Sarutobi was ready to apply the additional seals. Until the aged Hokage saw an unrecognizable seal on Naruto's stomach.

"Hokage-sama what are you doing? You need to add the other seals now." Kakashi said not wanting his sensei's plans to fall through.

"I could if I would. But this seal is different unlike anything I have ever seen before. This is beyond complex, I knew that Minato would alter the jutsu but to this extent. I don't think the seals will work on this."

End of Flashback

"So that is how you and the furball ended up in here?" At hearing his nickname called by the son of the man that put him in here in the first place, Kyuubi was openly growling.

'_**Damn you Minato! Now your wretched son is calling me that!' **_Kyuubi said mentally.

"_Yes son, that's how it all happened. I'm sorry that you won't have an afterlife…" _Minato stared at his son sadly.

"It's alright dad, I guess as long as I have a good life then my loss at going to Heaven doesn't matter." Naruto grinned nervously at his father, much to his surprise his father was tearing up.

"_Dammit, I'm so sorry son. I'm sorry for what I had to do, what has happened to you and what will happen to your afterlife. It's my entire fault; I failed you as a father the moment I thought about the greater good…"_

Minato was practically breaking down in front of his own son. He couldn't help to see his son accepting of this damnation. Knowing full well that it was in part his fault for what will happen to his own son.

"Dad it's alright, I was mad at you about this at first. But I understand what had to happen. I know what I need to do and at least I'm glad you're here. And now that I think about it, MY DAD IS THE FUCKING YELLOW FLASH!!"

At the sudden outburst Minato's ears were ringing and so was Kyuubi who had much more sensitive ears.

"_Well he always did say he would surpass me." _Minato said to himself.

"_Now then to more pressing issues, I already told you how I came here. I also mentioned that I can control the flow of Kyuubi's chakra." _

"Yeah you said all of that…"

"_Well son in a nutshell. You are dying because of that traitor Mizuki. But lu…"_ Minato was interrupted by his son screaming again.

"Holy shit! I forgot about that, wait shouldn't we be dead by now…"

"_**Baka, didn't I say time goes slower in here?" **_

"_He isn't lying Naruto, in your mindscape time goes slower than in the outside world. Whereas it's been maybe more than an hour in here, in reality it's only been less than a minute since Mizuki tossed your body aside." _

"Okay so I'm not dead yet so what do we do?"

"_Like I said I control the flow of Kyuubi's chakra. And of course his chakra can do a lot of things that regular human chakra can barely do. I plan on releasing enough of his chakra to heal your wound and temporarily increase your strength and speed enough to match that traitor…now I do have to warn you son. I can keep Kyuubi from influencing and manipulating you with his chakra. However that still doesn't mean that the chakra alone won't cause some adverse affects to you…"_

"Like what?"

"_Well since this is going to be the first time you will be exposed to this much of Kyuubi's chakra. Very good chance you'll be somewhat feral and bloodthirsty, and you will be releasing Kyuubi's killing intent as well."_

"Well if I can kick Mizuki-teme's ass and help Iruka-sensei then I'll do whatever is needed dad." Minato smiled at his son's determination, deep down Minato wanted to tell his son more. So much more was needed to be heard. The Elder Sage Toads warning, the possibility that the Kyuubi attack was orchestrated and more, but Minato knew that there would be a time and a place.

"_Alright furball let's get to work!"_

Minato said to the less than ecstatic demon fox. A bright yellow flash once again illuminated halls of Naruto's mindscape. Before Naruto could react red chakra came forth and wrapped around him.

Meanwhile

...in the outside world…

"You son of a bitch! I'm going to kill you!" Iruka screamed at the top of his lungs while Mizuki walked towards him with a sinister grin.

"NOW IRUKA YOU SHOULDN'T BE SO MAD, I ONLY AVENGED YOUR PARENTS."

"He wasn't the Kyuubi dammit, he never was!!"

Iruka was filled with rage, Naruto was dead and he couldn't do anything. He wanted so badly to take vengeance on the traitor. Naruto had always considered Iruka as family and Iruka knew that, Iruka had also felt the same way. And now he knew he would never get a chance to tell Naruto, that he was family.

"WELL NONE OF THIS MATTERS NOW IRUKA, YOU DEMON LOVER. I'M GOING TO KILL YOU NOW."

Mizuki flexed his hands and extended his claws, he grinned at Iruka. Ready to take his life, he was glad to finally kill Naruto. And although at some point in his life he actually did consider Iruka a friend. He now felt more than happy to take Iruka's life; after all to him Iruka was nothing more than cannon fodder.

To any other person in this situation, they would fear for their life as a hulking animal like beast would be inches away from killing them. However Iruka wasn't afraid, he had nothing but a face of anger and sorrow. He wanted nothing more than to kill the man who took away the last of his family.

"OH DON'T GIVE ME THAT SOUR FACE OR ELSE I MIGHT HAVE TO SCRAPE IT OFF YOUR HEAD…"

Mizuki picked up Iruka by the neck and brought up his claws. He grinned once more and slowly started to pierce the skin on Iruka's face.

"………"

Mizuki stopped and was frozen in place, Iruka who had kept his face of anger and sorrow even with the points of claws about to tear into his face, now bared an expression of shock. The reason why was because Naruto was standing in an almost zombie like manner, walking towards them.

Though Mizuki had additional reason for being frozen in place, he felt the force of a growing killing intent. Although Iruka felt this growing killing intent, it seemed to be more aimed at Mizuki.

"HO-HOW C-CAN YO-YOU STILL BE ALIVE?" Mizuki asked somewhat panicked.

Naruto looked up to make eye contact with Mizuki, his wound still dripping blood.

"I…told you before…if you lay one hand on Iruka…sensei…I'LL KILL YOU!!"

BOOOM!!

Naruto's body was consumed in an explosion of crimson-red chakra. It was flowing out of his body and moving around him like flames. The wound in Naruto's chest soon stopped bleeding, and then closed up.

Soon Naruto's physical features started to change. His canines were now elongated like that of fox's and his finger nails grew into claws. His eyes were no longer the gentle blue he always had. Naruto's eyes were now blood red and the irises were black slits, now his eyes showed fury, fury that would strike down anyone that would harm his precious people.

"YO-YOU DAMN DEMON, HOW CAN YOU STILL BE ALIVE!?"

"Na-Naruto?" Iruka managed to say, he still had a face of shock but now relief as well.

"YOU DAMN DEMON I'LL MAKE SURE YOU STAY DE…"

BAM!!

Mizuki couldn't finish what he was saying as Naruto in less than a second had a fist fly into his face. Mizuki was hit with enough force to be sent through two or three trees. Iruka fell on the ground, still unable to move. He looked at Naruto and took in his feral features. To a good number of people, they would find Naruto's transformation rather frightening. However Iruka didn't care he wanted to crush the blonde in a bear hug, happy that he was alive. But at the moment Iruka was still unable to get on his feet.

"DAMN YOU DEMON!! I'LL KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!!"

Mizuki got on his feet and ran straight at Naruto. With as much strength as he could muster the traitor threw his fist at Naruto. With just a little bit of effort Naruto caught Mizuki's fist and held it in an iron-grip. Mizuki brought up his other fist and attempted to punch Naruto. The attack was futile for Mizuki as Naruto caught his other fist.

"I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG, THE DEMON SHOWS HIS TRUE FORM." Mizuki was trying to make Naruto lose his focus by continuing to call him a demon, but much to Mizuki's displeasure Naruto only gave him an unaffected face.

"Shut up will you."

Naruto jumped up and smashed his head into Mizuki's head causing Mizuki to stumble back. Taking advantage of this Naruto jumped onto Mizuki, with his feet on Mizuki's chest Naruto brought his claws down and made a cross cut on Mizuki's face.

"AHHHHHH!!" Mizuki screamed in pain as blood gushed out of the large gashes that cut across his face.

Using Mizuki's chest as leverage Naruto jumped off of him and spun in the air. Naruto landed on all-fours and stared at Mizuki viscously growling at him. Naruto then launched himself at Mizuki and rammed into him. This caused the man to fall back once more, while midair Naruto grabbed Mizuki by the throat and slammed him into the ground with enough force to create a small crater.

Naruto then proceeded to pummel Mizuki's already cut up face. After a good few hits, Naruto extended his own claws and was ready to tear out Mizuki's throat. Much to Mizuki's fears Naruto gave him a cold stare that signified that he was going to die soon.

"YO-YOU DAMN DEMON, I CA-CAN'T DIE HERE."

Iruka stared in disbelief at the amazing feats Naruto had just pulled off. He was also shocked to realize that it was the Kyuubi's chakra that was flowing out of Naruto's body. Iruka was now afraid that Naruto was going to kill Mizuki; he knew that Mizuki betrayed Konoha and attempted to kill both Naruto and himself. But this wasn't right, Mizuki had to be brought to justice, also the vile he drank came from one of Konoha's missing-nins.

But before Iruka could say anything to stop Naruto, he brought down his claws. There was a loud boom from the force of Naruto's attack. Iruka feared the worst, until he heard Naruto speak.

"If I was the demon you wouldn't be alive right now, consider yourself lucky Mizuki-teme." Naruto pulled his hand out of a deep hole in the ground that was next to Mizuki's head. Naruto got up and walked towards Iruka, although he still had Kyuubi's chakra flowing through him, Naruto's killing intent died down.

Mizuki was mad; he was defeated by a graduate failure and the jinchuuriki of Konoha nonetheless. And now he was receiving mercy from the one he always called a demon, Mizuki saw that Naruto was now vulnerable and now fully enraged Mizuki got up and charged at Naruto.

"AHHRAHHH!! DIE!!"

Not even turning around Naruto went through a set of seals; four Kage Bunshin's materialized and restrained Mizuki. Infused with some of Kyuubi's chakra, the bunshins had Naruto's demonic-feral features and were strong enough to hold back Mizuki.

"I tried to show you mercy because that's something a human should do; now you'll have to pay for that...Bunshin Bakuha."(Shadow Clone Explosion)

BOOOM!!

The four bunshins exploded with incredible force, the explosion packed a more powerful punch because of Kyuubi's chakra. When the smoke cleared Mizuki fell to the ground surprisingly still alive but unconscious. His whole body burned all over and bloodied, with his mouth wide open.

"Thanks for the hand signs dad." Naruto mumbled to himself.

"_No problem son. Now that this is over I'm going to pull the Kyuubi's chakra back, alright." _Minato responded to his son.

"No problem."

With that said Minato pulled the demonic chakra back. Naruto's physical features returned to normal. After a few moments Naurto collapsed and fell flat on his face.

"Naruto!" Iruka struggled once more to get to Naruto.

Luckily for Iruka a team of ANBU along with the Sandaime arrived on the scene.

"I want that traitor imprisoned and get a medical team on Iruka and Naruto now!" Sarutobi ordered.

AN:_ There you go my first actual chapter of _Shinku Arashi. _I hope you all liked it. Anyway I appreciate you guys taking the time to read this, Happy Holidays and lates! _


	3. Hospital Visits and a Crash Course

AN: _Hey how's everyone doing? Here you go another chapter. _

_Don't own, don't sue, simple as that._

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'talk': Thought

"_Talk": _Minato, Toads

Chapter 2: Hospital Visits and a Crash Course in the Basics

Naruto lay in his hospital bed sleeping; he didn't really need to be in the hospital at the moment. Since his father Minato had released a rather large amount of Kyuubi's chakra almost all of Naruto's injuries were fully healed. But it being Naruto's first true exposure had left the young nin completely exhausted and fatigued, if it was anyone else they would have died from severe chakra exhaustion. While the blonde was sleeping in his hospital bed, two ANBU were standing guard outside.

The night before Sarutobi made sure that the ANBU guarding were ones sympathetic to Naruto. One being a man who possessed a power believed to have died with the Shodai Hokage and the other being a woman who was a former student of the Yondaime. Last thing Naruto needed was another Mizuki incident. For the better part of the day it was uneventful for the ANBU, there were a few nurses and doctors that had given Naruto the evil eye. But since the ANBU were around it was all they could do.

The male ANBU was starting to fall asleep until the woman smacked him awake.

"What was that for Rin?" The man asked.

"We have company Yamato and don't use my real name baka." Rin pointed to someone with indigo colored hair bobbing their head back and forth around a corner at the end of the hall.

"You can come out, we already know your there miss."

"Hey! Why the hell are you calling me a baka, you just said my real name?!" Yamato asked.

"Urusai baka, that's your cover name, now she's coming."

The young woman stepped out; she had on a rather large beige colored jacket and black pants with standard blue shinobi sandals. The ANBU were surprised to see that the young woman had pupil-less lavender eyes, signifying that she was a Hyuuga.

"A-ano I-I'm s-sorry bu-but, I w-was wondering i-if I could see Na-Naruto-kun?" The shy Hyuuga barely managed to ask.

The ANBU were in an awkward position, considering that there really were no visitors for Naruto and the ones who came just wanted to wish Naruto bad fortune and that kind of crap. With the acceptation Mr. Ichiraku and his daughter Ayame who came to drop off some ramen for Naruto but had to leave since they couldn't leave the restaurant alone for too long.

"What is your name miss?" Yamato asked.

"M-my name i-is Hi-Hinata, Hyuuga Hinata."

Both the ANBU were taken aback by this, not only was it someone in Naruto's age group but the Hyuuga heir as well.

"Hinata-sama how do you know Naruto-san?" Rin asked.

"P-please y-you d-don't ne-need to call me t-that."

"Okay then Hinata-san, how do you know Naruto-san?" Rin asked once again.

"I-I'm a-a clas-classmate of Na-Naruto-kun." Hinata said while fidgeting with her fingers and blushing.

'Wow I'm surprised that anyone in Naruto's class decided to visit him. I mean people came to visit Iruka and when they found out about Naruto being in the hospital they didn't even give two-shits about it. And now here is Hyuuga Hinata the heir to the Hyuuga clan visiting Naruto. Strange why did she blush and fidget with her fingers when she mentioned…wait…does she like Naruto?'

The whole time Rin was lost in thought, Yamato and Hinata were left in an awkward silence.

"Psst, are we going to let her in to see Naruto or what?" The male ANBU asked.

"Oh! Sorry about that, well Hinata-san you can go ahead and visit Naruto-san. And don't worry about how long you can stay, Naruto isn't scheduled for anything." Rin smirked behind her mask, very curious about what would happen.

As Hinata walked into Naruto's hospital room, Yamato leaned over and asked...

"Rin what are you doing? What if she is going to try something?"

"Well baka, that's why we're here and besides she doesn't look like someone that would do him harm…" Rin paused to think about her assumption of Hinata.

"And besides I think the little Hyuuga has a crush on Sensei's son." Rin said with a giggle, Yamato's immediate response was to choke.

"NANI?!"

"Quiet down dammit. You saw the way she blushed and fidgeted when I asked about how she knows Naruto." Rin said.

"Well I suppose, but that's still a long-shot. I doubt Naruto knows though." Yamato added.

"True, I don't think so either. Real good chance Naruto is as dense as his father."

XXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in Naruto's mindscape Minato sneezes.

"_What the hell!?! No way in hell I can be getting sick in here! Unless someone is talking about me, but even then how the hell can I sneeze this isn't an actual physical body!"_

XXXXXXXXXX

Hinata walked in and saw Naruto's sleeping form, it just so happened that Naruto was stretched across the bed with his limbs spread across.

'Naruto-kun looks so cute like that.' Hinata blushed at her own thought.

The Hyuuga heiress stood and debated with herself for a little bit. She couldn't decide on what to do. Originally Hinata had planned on saying "hi" to Naruto or at least see him. But after what the ANBU said to her, Hinata wanted to stay for as long as possible.

Hinata decided to take a chair out and sit beside Naruto, after a few moments Hinata hesitantly reached over and brushed off some of Naruto's hair from his forehead. Hinata blushed at how close she was to Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, you're so brave and courageous for saving Iruka-sensei and stopping Mizuki all by yourself." Hinata said out loud without stuttering.

Initially Hinata didn't know about Naruto like everybody else but she had heard about what had happened the night before from Iruka. Hinata was proud of Naruto's act of heroism; however everyone else who had heard was less then pleased. Most didn't seem to care what had happened, while others had called Naruto an idiot for being a dead-last and trying to take on a chunnin. And some had even wished that Naruto had been killed by Mizuki.

Flashback

Hinata had heard about what had happened to her academy teacher Umino Iruka. She had decided to go visit him. When she had arrived at the hospital and entered Iruka's hospital room, she saw that there were others visiting Iruka.

It was mostly academy students and a few chunnin who were teachers at the academy. Some of the academy students were Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba, and surprisingly Uchiha Sasuke.

"Iruka-sensei what happened to you?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah Iruka, how did you get so badly beaten up." One of the chunnin asked.

"Well we had a traitor in the academy that tried to run off with the "Scroll of Sealing" and tried to kill me." Iruka said.

"So that's what the alert was about, so Uzumaki tried to…" The chunnin was cut off by Iruka.

"NO! It wasn't Naruto, he was involved but he was the one who saved me. The traitor was Mizuki, he almost killed me. But Naruto stopped him and saved me…"

"What no way the dead-last could have stopped a chunnin!" Kiba said out loud.

"Yeah how could someone who could barely make a bunshin even go up against a chunnin?" Sakura added.

"He did stop Mizuki! Naruto stopped Mizuki from killing me and because of that Naruto is in the hospital also." Iruka said.

Hinata gasped at hearing of Naruto being in the hospital, she was about to ask what room Naruto was in until a certain dark haired genin opened his mouth.

"I can't believe that idiot was stupid enough to think he could take on a chunnin." Sasuke calmly and coldly said.

"Yeah how could someone like Naruto beat Mizuki? If it was Sasuke-kun I would understand." You can tell who said that.

"I'm surprised that dead-last isn't dead." Kiba said.

"It's a shame he didn't die…" Another chunnin quietly added while some of the chunnin quietly agreed.

Everyone but Hinata had put in there two-cents about what had happened. It was a shame that everyone had put emphasis on Naruto being injured or how it seemed impossible Naruto could have beaten Mizuki. No one didn't seem to care that Naruto had stopped a traitor, prevented one of Konoha's secrets from being stolen, and saved a fellow Konoha-nin.

Hinata, although no one at the moment could tell, was sheathing in anger. Hinata couldn't decide on whether or not to go tell the others to go to hell or just beat the crap out of them. When Hinata had decided on the verbal option, Iruka opened his mouth.

"ALL OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!! I can't believe how inconsiderate you guys are, Naruto deserves praise not this crap. I can't believe you guys consider yourselves to be Ninjas of the Leaf. If I wasn't restrained to this bed I would beat the crap outta you guys right now, and I wouldn't give a rat's ass about the consequences!!"

"But Iruka-sensei we were just saying how much of stupid move it was to take on a chunnin." Sakura tried to say in her and everyone else's defense, it was a big mistake.

"GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!!" Iruka said in pure anger and disgust.

With that said everyone left in a hurry. Some were left in awe at Iruka's outburst, while some of the chunnin muttered "demon lover." The only person who didn't leave was Hinata.

"A-ano Ir-Iruka-sensei, I-I d-don't think Na-Naurto-kun made a b-bad decision. I-I th-think that w-was very b-brave of him." Hinata said, with her head down while fidgeting with her fingers.

'I forgot that she was here, Hinata always was one of the quiet ones. I had feeling that she saw Naruto for who he was and not for what everyone else perceived him to be. Maybe that's why she is Naruto's own personal fan girl.' Iruka thought.

"Sorry about that Hinata but I really couldn't stand what they were saying about my family." Iruka nervously smiled.

"Y-you co-consider N-Naruto-kun family?" Hinata asked.

"Yes I consider him family, the same way he considers me. Although Naruto has always been the troublemaker and essentially the class idiot, Naruto is a good person. And I hate how people fail to see that. Naruto has always had a hard-life, growing up with a burden he had no choice but to bare and without family. It's a miracle he isn't shut off from society."

Hinata wanted to ask about this burden Naruto had to bare until Iruka continued.

"And I know you see Naruto for who he is, maybe that is why you have a crush on him. You maybe Naruto's own little fan girl, but you truly care for him. By the way Naruto's in room 302, floor above us and there are some ANBU guarding so be careful." Iruka smiled at Hinata.

All Hinata could do was have a shocked look on her face. Before she could even ask Iruka had answered her question.

"T-Thank you I-Iruka-sensei." Hinata said and bowed before she left the room in a hurry.

End of Flashback

"Naruto-kun you truly are a hero. All the hatred that everyone seems to have for you, you don't deserve it…Why does everyone hate you so much Naruto-kun, Iruka-sensei said you have a burden you carry on your shoulders I wish I knew what that burden was Naruto-kun…" Hinata paused and hesitantly reached forward to gently caress Naruto's whisker marks; Hinata was struggling to keep from fainting.

"mmm…" Naruto let out a quiet murmur and moved his head a little closer to Hinata's hand. This only served to make Hinata blush even more.

"…It's true I am a fan girl Naruto…but I'm your fan girl. At first I only seemed to like you for how much different you were from me. You were my exact opposite, you had so much confidence and you were so forward with everyone the first time I saw you…then after sometime I realized that my feelings for you didn't seem to be that much different from how Sakura feels for Sasuke…I felt horrible after that. It seemed like I was in some way using you…" Hinata felt like she was about to cry.

"…But then I saw through your mask for the first time…when it was your birthday…a mob of people were chasing you around. I thought at first it was because of some kind of prank you pulled…but then they started attack you. They were kicking and hitting you, some had weapons and started to hit you repeatedly. They were calling you a monster and demon, they kept saying how you should have died the day you were born…it was so painful to see…luckily some ANBU had come in time to help you. What was the real shock though, was that even though they beat you…and it seemed that this actually happened more often then what I originally thought…Anyone especially yourself would have had more than enough reason to hate the village and the people in it, to be shut off from everybody. But no you continued to wear your mask; maybe it was to hide your pain. Then came your proclamation to be the next Hokage, there was something about it. Even though you always said you would be Hokage with your "happy-go-lucky" attitude/mask. You really meant it, even though the villagers and a good number of nins always hurt you and try to even kill you…you swore to get their acknowledgement and you also swore to protect this village…for all the things that the village has done to you…you would still protect them…you are a future Hokage we don't deserve…every time you say it that is when you let your mask down just a little…"

Hinata continued to caress Naruto's face, then got up and moved closer to Naruto. She stopped herself from moving any closer and just continued to caress his face. Hinata wanted so badly to hug Naruto, but she would wait.

"…After I saw the opening in your mask, my feelings changed…my feelings for you were no longer some kind of crush or infatuation on the mask you wore. No, maybe it's safe to say I fell in love with the real you…"

Hinata paused once more, her eyes started to water a little and a tear fell.

"…I'm so pathetic, I can only speak without stuttering to you when you're asleep…I want to say I've always been there for you…say that I always watched over you…I have always been watching you Naruto-kun…but that is all I have ever done…I hate being so shy and afraid of consequences…I would have been able to be by your side when you needed someone…been with you when you were harassed or attacked…help deal with all your loneliness…" Hinata now started to cry and more tears fell.

"…I could have been there with you when Mizuki betrayed Konoha…I hate that I can't be there for you…all I can do is watch…that's all I ever do…I hate myself for this, always being the audience…I almost lost you, the most important person in my entire life…" Some of Hinata's tears fell on Naruto's face.

Naruto started to wake up very slowly. His senses seemed to be really out of whack. Probably due to the sudden exposure and withdrawal of Kyuubi's chakra during his fight with Mizuki, Naruto was now extremely disoriented. His hearing was barely focused as well as his sight.

Naruto had felt something wet hit his face. He barely started to open his eyes and all he could see was what looked like a girl crying, his barely focused hearing partly confirmed that she was crying. From what Naruto could tell, the girl had beautiful indigo colored hair and pearl-like lavender colored eyes. To Naruto there was something angelic about her.

'Is she my Guardian Angel? She looks like an angel…' Naruto thought, the angelic girl in between sobs said…

"…I'm sorry I wasn't there for you…I'm such a terrible person…to say I care for you and I'm not even there when you need someone…"

'Great going jackass, I think you just made your Guardian Angel cry…' Naruto thought to himself.

XXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in Naruto's mindscape Kyuubi heard Naruto's thoughts and was watching the whole thing.

"_**I wonder if the Kit realizes that ain't no angel crying over him…I better say something before he makes an idiot of himself. Hey…!"**_Kyuubi was stopped by Minato who put his hand over Kyuubi's mouth.

"_Don't you do it furball; I want to see what happens next." _

XXXXXXXXXX

In the outside world Naruto couldn't stand to see the angel before him cry. So Naruto managed to raise his hand and gently wiped off the tears from the angel's face, which caused said person to let out a small "epp" of surprise. Naruto could feel the angel's soft silky skin. Naruto thought her skin was very smooth and tried to be as delicate as possible, once the tears were wiped Naruto without realizing it was caressing the angel's face.

"Ne…Tenshi-chan, please don't cry. I'm sorry you have to be worried about an idiot like me…Don't cry that pretty face of yours okay?"

Naruto paused for a second as his vision started to focus some more. Naruto then realized how familiar the angel before him looked.

"You know you remind of this girl in my class…she's kinda weird since she always stutter and blushes every time I see her. She faints a lot when I walk by her, maybe it's because she's afraid of me…"

Hinata wanted to say that she wasn't afraid of her most precious person.

"…I don't blame her for being afraid of me though…especially considering what is inside of me…I'm practically a monster…" Naruto let out a sad chuckle.

"_Naruto, dammit you're not a monster…" _

'Naruto-kun I don't know what it is that you have inside of you, but you are not a monster.' Hinata said in her mind unable to say it out loud.

XXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile outside Rin and Yamato were using every ounce of will power they had to try not to cry their eyes out. The two ANBU were listening to everything Hinata had said and everything Naruto had just said. To say they weren't moved was saying that they had no heart.

"I can't believe that Sensei's son sees himself like that." Rin said barely holding back any emotion accept surprise in her voice.

"That kid really does have…sniff…an angel with him…" Yamato couldn't hold anything back.

"Ba-baka, what's wrong with you?! Keep it together dammit!" Rin was trying hard not to let out anymore emotions then needed.

Unknown to the two ANBU, the Sandaime Hokage decided to come by and pay Naruto a visit. When he neared Naruto's room he noticed Rin and Yamato arguing about something. It sounded like they were about to cry about something, which of course seemed very awkward to the Hokage.

"Ah hem! What is going on in here ANBU?" Sarutobi made his presence known to the ANBU.

"Ho-hokage-sa-sama!?" Both the ANBU said at about the same time.

"At ease you two, what's wrong?"

"Well Hokage-sama we were just umm…" Rin couldn't really say it, so Yamato said it.

"No other way to put it, we were ease dropping on Naruto-san and his angel." Yamato said rather bluntly while still giving a hint of sadness.

"Angel? What's going on in there?" Sarutobi forced his way passed the ANBU and into Naruto's hospital room.

As soon as Sarutobi broke in Naruto snapped up now fully aware and conscious now, with his senses mostly functioning properly again. Hinata also snapped out of her emotional state.

"Naruto care to explain what's going on in here?" Sarutobi asked with an eyebrow cocked.

"Ojii-san?" Naruto asked as he realized that his angel who he was talking to was the same girl he was just talking about.

He also realized that the whole time this was happening he was still caressing Hinata's face, Naruto blushed crimson in the process. Hinata realized this too and did the one thing she was trying to resist doing the whole time she was in Naruto's room. She fainted and fell straight into Naruto's face.

BAM!!

Hinata's forehead collided with Naruto's forehead as she fell unconscious. This of course only further threw Hinata into dreamland, while Naruto received a massive red spot on his head.

"Itai, itai! Kuso! That hurt! Wait so where did my Guardian Angel go?" Naruto asked, before he realized that the angel he was talking about was lying unconscious on his shoulder.

"I think I'll come back later Naruto-kun." Sarutobi calmly said as walked out with the two ANBU staring at what had just happened.

After the little mishap Yamato and Rin took Hinata back to her home after trying their best to pry her off Naruto, apparently in her sleep/unconsciousness Hinata had an iron-grip on things. That same day Naruto was discharged from the hospital despite his knew head injury. When Naruto got back to his apartment he went into his mindscape to talk to his father.

XXXXXXXXXX

"_Hello son, glad you came to see me. I was about to ask you to come talk to me but since your already here I have a few things to discuss." _While Minato was talking Naruto noticed Kyuubi was smirking at him.

"What?"

"_**Soooo, did you enjoy the visit from your Tenshi-chan?" **_At hearing this Naruto blushed crimson.

"It's not what you think you stupid fox!"

"_**Are you sure? It looked like you were feeling her up pretty good…"**_

SMACK!

Minato had slapped the backside of Kyuubi's head.

"_Furball stop teasing my son…though I do have to admit that was pretty cute though." _

"DAD!" Mianto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"_Sorry about that son. Anyway I needed to talk to you about some training you're going to need. This is why I need you to go see Sarutobi as soon as possible."_

"Well it's almost dark, but knowing Ojii-san he's probably still at the office. Alright I'll go but I need to go see some people alright."

"_Sure thing son."_

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto left his apartment and headed to Ichiraku to go see Teuchi and Ayame and to get some ramen.

"Hey old man! Bring me up a couple bowls of miso ramen; I'm kinda in a hurry so I can't have my usual order." Naruto said to Teuchi.

"Ah, Naruto nice to see you're already out of the hospital." As soon as Naruto had made his presence known, Ayame came out of the back.

"Naruto-kun!"

Ayame yelled and immediately reached over the counter and crushed Naruto in a bear hug.

"I'm so glad your okay, we came to visit you earlier but we couldn't stay for long and…"

"Aya…me…I…can't…hugh…br…e…ath…" Naruto barely said he would have been blushing from the hug, but instead he was turning blue. Ayame immediately let go of Naruto.

"Naruto-kun I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay Ayame-chan, I'm happy you're glad to see me." Naruto gave Ayame his signature fox-grin which caused the older girl to blush a little, while this was happening Teuchi brought up Naruto's order.

"Tell me Naruto, did you like the ramen we dropped off for you?" Teuchi asked.

"What ramen?" Naruto had a puzzled look on his face.

"The ramen we brought you while you were in the hospital, Naruto-kun." Ayame said.

It suddenly dawned to Naruto that he didn't have time to eat at the hospital, after his little mishap with Hinata. Naruto was discharged soon after.

"NOOOOO!!!! WASTED RAMEN!!!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs as he realized that the ramen was probably long gone, Naruto really didn't like ramen to be wasted, especially if it was on the house.

"It's okay Naruto-kun don't worry about it, it's not like we were going to charge you or anything." Ayame said reassuringly.

"Actually I think we need to…" Before Teuchi could finish what he was about to say Ayame elbowed her father in the ribcage.

"Don't be greedy dad!" Ayame said in a low threatening whisper to her father.

"I was just joking."

After Naruto finished the bowls in a few minutes, he paid for the ramen. Naruto said goodbye to Teuchi and Ayame. Naruto received a less bone crushing hug from Ayame and Naruto couldn't help but blush.

XXXXXXXXXX

Making his way back to the hospital, Naruto scaled the walls and was in Iruka's hospital room via the window. Naruto didn't want to bother with the hospital staff, so he took his own entrance to the hospital room.

"Hey Iruka-sensei! How are you?" Naruto asked while climbing.

"Naruto! Less than a day and your already out of the hospital, I'm glad to see your okay." Iruka smiled.

"Iruka-sensei when are you going to leave the hospital, I wanna retake my genin exam, if that's possible."

"Naruto I just got into the hospital last night, I'm not a quick healer like you. Besides you don't need to retake the exam." Iruka said.

"HUH! Why not?!" Naruto asked.

"Naruto close your eyes." Naruto did as Iruka said after a minute Naruto heard Iruka say. "Open your eyes."

Naruto opened his eyes to see Iruka holding a small hospital mirror in front of him and in the reflection was Naruto wearing Iruka's hitai-ate. Naruto became wide-eyed and jumped up and crushed Iruka in a hug, much like the one Ayame had given Naruto earlier.

"Yatta! Thank you! Thank you!" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto! You're reopening my wounds!" Iruka said in pain.

"Oh shit! Sorry Iruka-sensei!"

"Don't worry about it, anyway you deserve that. Last night you really proved yourself and I'm really proud of you. And I'm also glad your okay, I don't know what I would have done if I lost you. You're like family to me Naruto…" Iruka said with his eyes starting to water.

"Thank you again Iruka-sensei, you've always been there for me…anyway I gotta go I need to see Sarutobi-ojii-san." Naruto turned around with a tear of joy falling from his face he then leapt through the window.

"No problem Naruto, take care." Iruka said with a smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

In the Hokage's office Sarutobi was stressed, he really wished he hadn't left the hospital so soon to leave Naruto alone after his little mishap with Hinata. Because the moment Sarutobi returned to his office, it was back to the paperwork. And with last night's incident even more paperwork had to be filled out.

"Arrraghhh, if I had my way with this I'd use my "Karyu Endan" to send this kami forsaken paperwork to hell!!" Sarutobi yelled in anger and agony.

"Looks like you're having fun Ojii-san." Naruto said while coming in.

"Naruto-kun you're out already. Good there were something's I've been meaning to ask you."

"Really well there are something's I need to talk to you about." Naruto responded.

"Yes well I need to talk to you about what Iruka said about you using the Kyuubi's chakra."

"_Naruto let me handle this; I can speak through you for a short period of time."_

"Are you sure dad?"

"_Of course I trust Sarutobi and besides he's was gonna need to know eventually…" _

"Alright then." Naruto said mentally.

"Well Ojii-san to answer your question, there's someone I would like you to talk to." Naruto said with a smile.

"Hmm?" Sarutobi raised an eyebrow in curiosity while he took out his pipe and started to take a few puffs.

"_Hey there Sarutobi no long time no see!"_ Naruto said in a voice different then his own.

"Mi-Minato!?!" Sarutobi nearly choked and swallowed his own pipe.

"_That's right! I bet your wondering how I'm speaking through my son huh? Oh and yes my son knows I'm his father."_

XXXXXXXXXX

In the next hour or so Minato told Sarutobi everything about what happened between him and the Shinnigami, Naruto's complex seal, and more. To say Sarutobi wasn't amazed was a damn lie.

"_So yeah, the reason why I'm here talking to you other than to bring you up to speed on what's going on, Naruto needs training and whole lot of it. And he needs it before the genin cell formation." _

"Why is that?" Sarutobi asked.

"_Because I want Naruto to at least know everything he was supposed to learn in the academy before he joins a genin cell. Years of academy basics my son should know has been turned to crap no thanks to all the academy teachers who always failed Naruto on purpose and refused to teach him anything. The only one who actually helped Naruto is Umino Iruka. And you're wondering how I know this huh? I've been going through my son's memories and I have to ask myself, "Was saving this village worth it?" The pain and suffering my son had to go through is inexcusable. He deserved to be honored as a hero and look at what these ignorant fools have done. It makes me wonder what happened to the village I loved so much, the village I sacrificed myself for."_

"I really don't know Minato-kun, maybe it's because they feel that Naruto reminds them of the terrible thing that had happened. This is my fault, I failed to help your son the best I could. We had to keep it a secret that the Yellow Flash had a son because of all the enemies you made in the past, but maybe if they had known it could have made a difference."

"_I doubt it, aren't you forgetting that despite the older generation looking at Naruto like a monster. Before I became the Yellow Flash or the Yondaime, I was a Namikaze. The member of a fairly unknown clan of Konoha but to the village council I was a part of Konoha's black sheep." _

"Yes, it truly is unfortunate to be looked down by Village council because of the necessary evils your family had to perform and for your son to suffer far a worse fate."

"_Yeah well now it's time to make up for that. My plan for Naruto's training is simple, how much time are the genins given off until the genin cell formation?"_

"About one month, but since the incident with Mizuki, an investigation in the academy and questioning of various nins who have associated with Mizuki will need to be looked into. So it maybe two or three months until the cells is formed."

"_Fantastic, that's more time then I was hoping for. The plan is simple; I need you to train my son. I would ask Jiraiya-sensei but you know how he is with showing up for training and he's always gotta do his bloody research. And not that I don't have any confidence in my student Kakashi but it's just that it would be better if someone who is more skilled and more powerful would be a somewhat better choice."_

"Now that does make sense Minato-kun, but I'm the Hokage now. I don't have the time to freely train your son as much I would like to. You know the main reason why also."

"_Oh come on! I'm aware of a Hokage's worst enemy but, you're the "Professor" you should have figured out the almighty solution to the problem by now."_

"WHAT?!! There is a solution to all this paperwork?! TELL ME WHAT IT IS DAMMIT!!" Sarutobi said while holding Naruto/Minato by the collar.

To say that Sarutobi was being a little scary was an understatement. The aged Hokage had veins popping out the side of his head, chakra radiating off him like Chernobyl, and he was releasing a massive amount of killing intent. Naruto/Minato could only have a sweat drop come down the side of his head.

"_If you must know Professor…" _Minato proceeded to raise his hands and made hand gestures signifying quotation marks. _"…Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."_

Sarutobi let go of Naruto/Minato and had a shell shocked look on his face. A second later he collapsed right into his own table. Making a loud thud sound as his face made contact with the wood.

"I can't believe I didn't figure that out, this is so pathetic. Minato do you want your job back? This is too much for me." Sarutobi said in a half sarcastic and half serious tone with a hint of depression.

"_Hahahaha! Relax old man! Besides I can't take my old job back it wouldn't work out. Sides aren't you forgetting who the next Hokage is?" _

"Right I forgot about that. So I train your son what else?"

"_Since time goes differently in my son's mindscape, I can take advantage of this and help my son with understanding of the basics. Teach him about strategy and other things, I can't really physically train him." _

"Okay so that means you want me to teach your son and train him in all the basics and then go further than that?"

"_Precisely you teach my son basics then cram as much as you can on taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and anything else for that matter. I'll teach my son strategy and all that other book smart stuff, and since my son has nearly unlimited stamina and chakra. Using Kage bunshins and the memory transfer effect will further my son's training and progress."_

"Alright I'll do that, but even with my usage of Kage bunshins. I won't always be available to train Naruto. So I will assign someone to help every time I can't be there."

"_I understand and thanks. This will really help out Naruto."_

After shaking hands and after Naruto regained control of his own body and said his own goodbyes. Naruto headed home, since he was listening to the conversation between his father and Sarutobi. Naruto wanted to know what his father meant by "Konoha's black sheep."

XXXXXXXXXX

Later that night when Naruto was asleep, the young nin went into his mindscape to talk to his father.

"Hey dad, I was wondering about something."

"_What is it son?"_

"Well when you were talking to Ojii-san, you mentioned something about the Namikaze's being "Konoha's black sheep." What do you mean by that?"

Minato let out a sigh of slight sadness.

"_Well son, the Namikaze family was a fairly unknown clan. We always had excellent and well dedicated shinobis. But we didn't have a bloodline, some kind of animal companion, or a specialized ninjutsu so we were fairly unknown to the village. However to the higher ups of Konoha's government we were their dirty little secret, everything Konoha has done that was underhanded or considered "breaking the rules" we were responsible for taking care of it."_

"Wait dad what do you mean?"

"_See every time there was something that was needed to be done for the benefit of Konoha. Whether it is in the circles of politics, military, intelligence, or business, we took care of it by any means necessary. What we did have to be done, our actions were carried out in secret. Ethics and legality be damned, every time some kind of problem arose that would have too much trouble for Konoha to take of directly, we were called in." _

"_Whether or not it was against a foreign enemy, potential enemy, or even some of Konoha's allies, hell there were some operations that had us deal with some of Konoha's own. We did the necessary evils that Konoha couldn't do on its own but needed it done nonetheless, and if anyone in the clan was caught. A little something called "plausible deniability" came up. Which none of us really cared much about, if we didn't do it? Who would do it then?" _

"_When I became old enough even I participated in some of these "evils" every time a kid was needed to be used instead of an adult. I was called in, though eventually when politics change views change. The Namikaze's services were no longer needed, which was a good thing I suppose. I was able to be a normal nin, sorta. But then it seemed like the council turned their back on the Namikazes. They felt we were the representation of every little bad thing Konoha had to do to ensure its security and survival. We were resented and frowned upon and had no position on the council. It was a surprise that I even became Hokage."_ Minato had a slightly saddened look and some guilt on his face.

"Well dad you always went on about how much you loved this village, I suppose performing these necessary evils shows just how far you went for Konoha."

Minato was a little wide-eyed at what his son said. He was surprised that his son would say something to cheer him. Despite what he told his son, about the blood stained hands the Namikaze's had. Naruto still showed some understanding to his own father.

"_Thanks son, anyway get some rest. The next few months are going to a massive crash course in the basics and other things. You will be training none stop with Sarutobi and anyone else he'll assign when he isn't unavailable. And when you are done for the day expect me to tutor you in everything you need to know while you're in here, got it?" _Minato smiled at his son while he ruffled his hair.

"I understand dad and thanks." Naruto said as he slipped back into reality and called it a night.

Time skip

…one month…

One month into Naruto's training and the blonde was already showing a lot of progress. Naruto was very motivated and dedicated to his training after he found out just how far behind he was from everybody. Every waking moment was spent training and every sleeping moment Naruto spent in his mindscape learning from his father. With the help of the "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" and his own massive chakra reserves Naruto further progressed in his training

In just the first week Naruto had made up for most of the academy basics. Now he was already in chakra exercises like tree-climbing and water walking. Though Naruto needed to work on that, since he was pouring enough chakra into the exercises to punch holes in the trees with every step taken and water would practically explode with every step.

Naruto also started to learn a few elemental ninjutsu's. With Sarutobi, Naruto started to learn the basics of bojutsu. But this proved to be rather painful for Naruto having to spar with Sarutobi who was by far the most skilled bojutsu user in all of Konoha or even "Hi no Kuni" for that matter.

There were a few occasions with Sarutobi having to attend to some business that required his actual self to be there. So Naruto was introduced to various other nins to help with his training. One of them was the Tokubetsu Jounin, Gekkou Hayate. With his help Naruto was learning the basics of kenjutsu.

Naruto was also introduced to his father's student Hatake Kakashi and vice-versa Kakashi found out his sensei was still alive. Unfortunately Naruto was dismayed with Kakashi's constant tardiness. Even after Minato had threatened Kakashi it didn't seem to help. And today Naruto once again was stuck with Kakashi for training.

"AHHH!! Where the bloody hell is that damn scarecrow?!" Naruto screamed out to the top of his lungs.

"Why couldn't it be Hayate-sensei?!"

"_Calm down son, even though I am disappointed in my former student's tardiness…I…actually really don't have anything to say in his defense…Dammit where the hell are you Kakashi?!"_

After a few hours of sparing with himself using his Kage bunshins, Naruto was finally greeted by Kakashi and his lazy "Yo."

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?!!" Naruto screamed out while pointing his index finger at him.

"Sorry about that but I ran into a black cat and I then I got scared and backed into a mirror by accident and broke it and then…"

Minato only sweat dropped and said…

"_Wow, at least Obito had better excuses and half the time he wasn't lying about it."_

"_**Damn I've given my share of lame ass excuses in the past, but he takes the cake." **_

"Whatever I don't wanna hear it, so what's today's training regiment?" Naruto asked now a little bit more calm.

"Well I decided to do something a little different; did Minato-sensei brief you on elemental chakras?"

"Uh, yeah my dad taught me about elemental affinities and how we all have one and all that other stuff." Naruto said.

"Alright then, well I think we should see what your elemental affinity is." Kakashi took out a thin sheet of paper and handed it to Naruto.

"Here channel your chakra into the paper. If the affinity is earth, then the paper will crumble into dust. If it's water it will get wet. Wind it will split into two halves. Lighting it will crumble and fire it will burn. Most likely you'll have an affinity for wind like your father."

Naruto then proceeded to concentrate his chakra into the paper. When the paper started to change Kakashi was surprised to see the results and Minato became wide-eyed as well.

AN:_ There you go another chapter, hope you all like it. So anyway Merry Christmas and all that other stuff everybody._


	4. Why did I get stuck with them?

AN:_Hey everyone! Another chapter for you all thanks for reading and reviewing I like all the feedback, it's much appreciated._

_By the way _**cybermage**_ asked a very interesting question. Said person was wondering if Naruto can use Minato's chakra. I'm sorry if it wasn't made that noticeable in Chapter: 2 but during Minato's conversation with the Shinnigami all of Minato's chakra was used so he would become the seal that keeps Kyuubi locked up._

_I don't own Naruto._

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'talk': Thought

"_Talk": _Minato, Toads

Chapter 3: Why did I get stuck with them?

For three months no one knew where Uzumaki Naruto was. It seemed like he disappeared, to quite a few people they didn't really care, and the majority of the village was overjoyed by the disappearance of their jinchuuriki. There were a few who were very dismayed by Naruto's absence, one being a certain Hyuuga and the other being the daughter of a ramen chef.

Naruto really was nowhere to be found. He wasn't at his favorite ramen stand or playing any pranks whatsoever. This would explain the peace and quiet that Konoha was going through. Naruto wasn't even seen in his own home, this of course left Hinata very worried since she was one of the few people who was actually concerned and wanted to find him.

The truth was Naruto was still in Konoha, just that he was only in two places for the last three months. One place was the Hokage's private training grounds where Naruto spent a majority of his time training in various areas. When Naruto would finish up training for the day, he would stay at the Hokage's tower. As soon as he would wake up he would be ready to jump right back into training.

For all intents and purposes Sarutobi had decided to label this three month training course as a rather high C-rank, close to low B-rank mission. Barely out of the academy and not even in a genin cell yet and Naruto had already completed a mission on his own.

It had been a rather interesting three months for Naruto. He received a lot of training and tutoring from both Sarutobi and Minato. He also met his father's student Kakashi and various other Konoha nins. Naruto also met Sarutobi's grandson Konohamaru and his sensei Ebisu, to say it was a subtle first time meeting each other would fail to describe it.

Flashback

…one month ago…

Naruto was sparring with Sarutobi using Bo staffs, the two were switching back and forth on the offensive. Naruto was now pushing Sarutobi back, until the Hokage parried one of Naruto's attacks and caused the blonde to lose his footing. Taking advantage of this Sarutobi swept the ground with his staff knocking Naruto on his ass.

"You've been getting better Naruto-kun, but you still need to work on your balance and footing. And you also need to work on your defense and not waste your attacks." Sarutobi said in a sage-like manner.

Unknown to the two or maybe not entirely to the two, they were being watched. In the shadows, a lone figure came charging out with a shuriken in hand.

"Old man, fight me!" The figure said as he ran towards Sarutobi.

The attacker was a child who looked to be eight years of age. He was dressed in a yellow t-shirt with the Konoha fire swirl in the center and beige shorts. He also had some kind of helmet/hat on, but the most noticeable thing about his outfit was a ridiculously long blue scarf wrapped around his neck.

The boy didn't even get close to Sarutobi in his attack, reason why was because the child had tripped on his ridiculously long scarf. It was a miracle that the kid didn't stab himself with the shuriken.

The kid got up and looked around a little embarrassed, when his sights had set on Naruto. The kid gave him a death glare.

"You!!" He pointed at Naruto with his index finger.

"You set up a trap on me didn't you?!"

A vein popped out the side of Naruto's head, he really didn't like being blamed for something he didn't do. It was obviously due to all the years spent being chased around and beaten by ignorant villagers. Naruto grabbed the kid by the collar and looked him straight in the eyes.

"BAKA!! I didn't do jack shit! You're the idiot that tripped on your own damn scarf!" Naruto was ready to knock the kid upside the head when someone came screaming.

"Not again! Honorable grandson, are you alright?!"

The man asking was wearing a jounin uniform without the vest and had on a pair black "John Lennon" circular lens sunglasses. His hitai-ate plate was on a bandana instead of a cloth.

"What are you doing?! Unhand Sandaime-sama's grandson, Konohamaru, now!" The sunglasses wearing nin said.

"_I didn't know Sarutobi had a grandson, interesting he's named after Konoha." _Minato said.

'Heh let's see him hit me, now that he knows I'm his teacher's grandson.' Konohamaru thought to himself.

"C'mon go ahead and punch me." Konohamaru smirked at Naruto.

Naruto loosened his grip slightly on Konohamaru's collar.

"You little Punk I'm not gonna punch you…" Naruto retightened his grip on Konohamaru's collar.

"I'm gonna do this!" Naruto pulled his own head back and then sent it forward, pile driving his skull into Konohamaru's forehead.

BAM!!

The nin's jaw dropped as he saw Naruto head butt the Sandaime's grandson.

End of Flashback

For the better part of day the after that event Naruto found himself being chased around by Konohamaru throughout the training grounds. Apparently Sarutobi's grandson wanted to know of the jutsu that had "defeated" the Hokage. It was a little hard for Naruto to teach Konohamaru having to stay in the training grounds but he managed. After words Naruto found himself having to go up against Ebisu to prove a point. The Tokubetsu Jounin was a little overconfident in his abilities and found himself "defeated" by Naruto in about a minute.

After words Naruto and Konohamaru became good friends, Konohamaru started calling Naruto boss or big brother. Konohamaru changed; the boy became far more devoted to his training as Ebisu noted and was no longer interested in the quick and easy solution to things. Konohamaru would watch Naruto spar with Sarutobi whenever he got the chance and actually rooted for both of them. When Naruto's training was done Konohamaru had gotten Naruto a gift, it was a red scarf, and luckily it wasn't ridiculously long like Konohamaru's.

XXXXXXXXXX

Today Naruto would be returning to his apartment, it was early morning and the sun wasn't out yet, and it was a few hours before the genin cell formation. Once Naruto got back to his apartment, he was surprised to see his room relatively unharmed. Probably do to the fact that the whole village made the assumption that Naruto was gone, so there wasn't much of point to try and destroy his home if he isn't there.

"Ah! Home sweet home, err…sorta."

Naruto tossed his backpack aside and took a shower. After that he made a light breakfast and ate. When he was done Naruto went to his backpack to pull out his new outfit, since his assortment of old and ridiculously luminescent clothes were pretty much destroyed and tattered in the last three months of training.

"_Well I'm glad that you have an outfit on that doesn't scream "Here I am assholes! Kill Me!!" _Minato sarcastically said to his son.

"Well I figure I could use my first paycheck on something other than ramen, I guess. Besides I don't really have any clothes left I can wear for missions."

"_**Oh yeah a tracksuit is the perfect outfit for a ninja mission." **_

"Shut up."

XXXXXXXXXX

The sun was now up in the sky and it was a sunny morning. After the prolonged break before the genin cell formations, it was finally time for the genins to be assigned to their Jounin-senseis. Most of the genins had arrived at the academy waiting patiently for Iruka to arrive. Some of the genins weren't exactly comfortable with being around Iruka, namely Haruno Sakura and Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke plain old didn't give a shit.

In the back of the classroom was Hyuuga Hinata, the young heiress was still depressed that Naruto was still nowhere to be found. She really did want to see Naruto again even after the incident visiting him at the hospital. Hinata really wanted to work up the courage to talk to Naruto and maybe even tell him.

"Naruto-kun where did you go, I want to see you so badly. I really want to tell you how I feel, after talking to you while you were asleep. I really think that maybe I can tell you that I love you. Or at least tell you that I'm not afraid of you." Hinata thought to herself.

The door to the classroom opened and someone vaguely familiar entered the room. It was a boy with blonde hair and he had on a hitai-ate and wore a red scarf around his face like a mask. His outfit consisted of black fingerless gloves, dark-blue shinobi pants and a long-sleeved shinobi shirt that had the Konoha fire swirl on the sleeves, basically a Konoha shinobi uniform minus the standard issue flak jacket. In place of the flak jacket was a rather stylish orange vest that had a tall collar (it's the same vest Naruto had on in the third Naruto Movie). The pant legs of the pants were wrapped up in some kind of bandage like what other chunnins and jounins had on their pants.

The most peculiar thing about the masked blondes outfit was his foot wear. Instead of the standard shinobi sandals he had on wooden geta sandals that added a little to his height. The other thing that stuck out about his outfit was a black Bo staff strapped to his back.

The masked blonde made his way to one of the unoccupied seats in the middle of the class and sat down to the side; sitting on the seat to the far side was none other than Sasuke Uchiha. Who really didn't care about who the masked nin was.

It only took Hinata a few moments before she realized who it was that came in and sat down near Sasuke. Hinata's heart skipped a beat, the young man that she loved so much, who had been missing for the last three months just suddenly and casually came back with a new outfit. Hinata wanted so badly to go and talk to Naruto, wondering if he remembered the little incident at the hospital. But she decided against it and would talk to him later. While Naruto sat down casually, Nara Shikamaru entered the classroom and immediately noticed the masked blonde.

"Hey new kid, this is where the academy graduates go, the class for the students is next door." Shikamaru said in the laziest tone he had.

'Wow, am I that hard to recognize?' Naruto asked himself mentally.

"_Well Naruto barely any of the villagers gave you the evil eye or death glares. Then again I'm surprised Shikaku's son didn't figure it out. Nara's do tend to be very observant and usually are real smartasses." _

"You know I was told Nara's are supposed to be real observant and notice things easily; I'm not a new student. C'mon who else in this class wears orange?" Naruto asked somewhat sarcastically.

"Naruto? Jeez, this is too troublesome…hey you didn't even graduate." Shikamaru said lazily.

"Damn you suck…" Naruto said as he pointed to the hitai-ate tied to his head.

"Che…Jeez, that's a little beat up for a hitai-ate isn't it?" Shikamaru said, but then smiled a little. "But I think someone like you will do the thing some justice, so where the hell were you for the last three months?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto gave Shikamaru the best Kakashi eye-smile he could.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you…"

"Troublesome…Not that I would care that much but try me."

"I was training with Sarutobi-Ojii-san for the last three months." Naruto said while still maintaining his eye smile.

It took a few seconds before it registered to Shikamaru who Naruto was talking about.

"You were trained by the Sandaime for three months?" Shikamaru asked partly surprised, his tone partly showed it but not enough to get everyone's attention.

"Yup." While Naruto was telling Shikamaru this Sasuke overheard the conversation.

'How did the dobe get training from the Hokage? Che, no matter he's the dead last no matter what. The training from the Hokage was probably wasted on him.' Sasuke thought.

"So I assume that the three months of training is one of the reasons for your new outfit and mask." Shikamaru said his assumption.

"Pretty much, my old one was destroyed from all the training I did. Also the scarf is from Ojii-san's grandson Konohamaru, he gave it to me as I guess, a parting gift. Thing about it was I was staying at the Hokage Tower during my training." Shikamaru was about to say something when Sasuke decided to be a part of the conversation.

"A little bit of training from the Hokage and a new outfit isn't going to change the fact that you're the dead last and nothing more." Sasuke said rather coldly towards Naruto, this of course didn't go unnoticed by Hinata who was still somewhat pissed off at what the Uchiha said back at the hospital three months ago.

"And you're still a brooding asshole who likes to give opinions on conversations that you're not a part of, so I guess we're even." Naruto said rather calmly while surprisingly giving Sasuke an eye smile also.

"_Nice to know my son has adopted the Namikaze way."_ Minato said grinning.

"_**And that would be what exactly?"**_

"_Smartass remarks and responses are far more affective at pissing people off."_

"_**Riiiighttt, I never knew…" **_Kyuubi said very sarcastically.

Sasuke gave Naruto a death glare in response. Shikamaru was surprised that Naruto didn't start shouting and threatening to kick his ass. It was really surprising to see Naruto give a smartass remark in such a calm manner. Before Shikamaru could comment about Naruto's change in tactics to retaliate against the Uchiha, the sound of screaming and running could be heard.

"HA! I made it first Ino-pig!" A pink-haired girl with green eyes wearing a red dress said out loud, her name was Haruno Sakura.

"My ass I made it here first Forehead!" The girl next Sakura said in response. This girl had platinum blonde hair and was dressed in a purple shirt with turtle neck and skirt. Her name was Yamanaka Ino.

Naruto saw the two come charging up through the door, Naruto smiled behind his own mask at the sight of Sakura. Naruto then waved to Sakura and said…

"Sakura-chan, long time no…" Naruto didn't finish as he was thrown aside by Sakura and Ino.

"Out of the way!!" Both of them shouted as they fought to sit next to Sasuke.

"Jeez…women…too damn troublesome…" Shikamaru said as he helped Naruto to his feet. Hinata was getting a little angry at the treatment Naruto was receiving.

"Thanks, I guess I need to find a new seat." Naruto said casually to Shikamaru.

"Hmm, that's a surprise how come your not trying to get Haruno's attention?" Shikamaru asked.

"In the words of one of my teachers, "When two women quarrel, especially over a man, get your ass the fuck out before it gets worse, or somebody gonna get hurt real bad."

"Wise words from a wise man, this teacher must have learned from experience." Shikamaru said.

"_I learned the hard way, and so did my friends." _Minato said.

"_**You know stupid he can't hear you." **_

"_Yeah and you can't run around freely cause your stuck in here with me."_

Naruto just looked around the classroom for an empty seat to sit down in while Ino and Sakura continued to argue with each other. Naruto's eyes set on the empty seat next to Hinata Hyuuga. When Naruto started walk up to Hinata he noticed that the young heiress was blushing. Naruto then remembered what had happened at the hospital three months ago.

It had taken Naruto a while to realize that it wasn't an angel talking to Naruto at the hospital room, but the classmate he was referring too. Naruto had to wonder if Hinata really meant it when she said she cared for him.

Hinata had noticed that Naruto was walking up to her. Hinata's heart started to race as Naruto got closer. Her anger towards the others forgotten as Naruto made eye contact with her. Even though Naruto now had on a mask that covered his face and hid the whisker marks she thought were so cute, Hinata could somehow tell that Naruto was smiling.

"Ohayo..." Naruto was about to say until something slammed into him from behind, it was apparently a grappling Ino and Sakura.

Naruto lost balance and fell forward with his head pointed straight out. Hinata saw that Naruto was falling face forward; she tried to get out her seat and catch Naruto. Instead Naruto collided with Hinata, only it wasn't a head on collision. Their heads didn't hit, it was their lips, kind of.

Hinata's eye became as wide as saucers her lips met with what she assumed were Naruto's lips. She couldn't exactly tell at the moment because of Naruto's mask. Either way though Hinata was at least kissing a part of Naruto's face which was more than what the young heiress could have ever hoped for.

Naruto on the other hand had no idea what was going on. He remembered getting knocked from behind by an arguing Ino and Sakura, and then he remembered falling. Naruto then remembered Hinata getting out of her seat to try and catch him. Finally it hit Naruto; he was staring straight into Hinata's pearl-lavender eyes. And his lips were making contact with Hinata's lips.

If not for the mask Naruto and Hinata would respectively be sharing their first kiss. With Hinata losing her balance and gravity pulling their combined body weights down, the two had hit the ground.

Hinata opened her eyes to see Naruto was on top of her; all she could do was blush and try not to faint. She let out a small "eep" sound, it was the only thing she did since the one she loved so much was pressed on top of her.

When Naruto realized he had finally hit the ground, the masked blonde felt something pressed against his chest.

"What the hell? Did my chest land on something soft? It feels like pillows…"

"_**Oh yeah! You're damn right Kit, you did land on pillows. My favorite kind of pillows!! Bwahahahahahahaha!!!" **_Kyuubi finished up laughing rather manically, Minato could only sigh.

"_Oh man, shut up Ero-Baka-Kitsune…" _Minato said rather miserably.

Before it registered to Naruto what the fox or his father was partly saying, Naruto heard someone behind scream out.

"Who are you and just what do you think you're doing to poor Hinata you pervert?!!" Sakura said while cracking her knuckles along with a handful of other girls staring daggers into Naruto.

"Sakura-chan it's me Naruto and what are you…" Naruto looked down to see Hinata blush a new shade of red. "…talking about?"

The next few minutes were not very fun for Naruto, because half of the class's female populace decided to beat the crap out of Naruto. While this was going on, Hinata was a little disappointed that Naruto was pulled off of her. Even though she was struggling not to faint she did very much enjoy being in such a close proximity to Naruto. After the lynching was over Shikamaru once again helped Naruto to his feet.

"I reassess what I said earlier, women too damn troublesome. What really sucks though is that they're the ones that caused you to fall onto Hinata." Shikamaru said in his signature lazy tone.

"Whatever I'm used to this kind of stuff…" Naruto said in a little bit of a depressed tone, as he went and sat down next to Hinata.

The lavender eyed girl noticed the hint of sadness in Naruto's voice; she wanted to say something to comfort him. But she was still fighting the urge to faint from earlier and putting her hand on Naruto's shoulder would have been too much for her.

When Iruka came in to announce the team placements, he noticed Naruto and visibly smiled to see that he was back. Iruka was just recently told of Naruto's training with the Hokage. Iruka then took few quick glances at Sasuke, Sakura, and Kiba. Although Iruka didn't make any facial expression to show he was still upset with them, it didn't take much for the three assume he was still mad. Sakura and Kiba visibly flinched a little, and Sasuke didn't really care and went to back to his brooding self. After Iruka made a quick speech about the responsibilities of being Shinobi and Kunoichi, and the future of Konoha and that kind of stuff, Iruka announced the team placements.

"Alright then, Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto…" Hinata was hoping to be on the same team as Naruto.

"…Haruno Sakura…" Naruto smiled underneath his mask as he was now put on the same team as the girl he had a crush on, while Sakura dropped her head on the desk.

"…and Uchiha Sasuke…" Naruto frowned and dropped his head in defeat. Hinata was saddened that she wasn't going to be teamed up with Naruto.

"….your Jounin-sensei will be Hatake Kakashi." Hearing this Naruto proceeded to repeatedly hit his own head on the desk; he then gave Iruka a death glare and released a rather strong amount of killing intent that quite a few students actually felt.

"Why? Why?!! Why must you do this to me Iruka?!! I saved your life, we're practically family! Why must I be in the same team as Mr. Tall Dark and Emo? And why does the habitually late Scarecrow have to be my sensei?" Naruto asked rather comically with tears about to fall out of his eyes, Iruka couldn't help but feel for Naruto, and then he sighed.

"I'm sorry Naruto but to balance out teams the class's top student has to be with the lowest student, I am aware of your training with Hokage-sama that you took to improve yourself in certain areas. However this training does not count towards your academy stats, after all you received the training as a genin not as a academy studnet." Iruka said to the now depressed and moping Naruto.

After the rest of the teams were called out there would be a one hour break before the Jounin-sensei's would come to pick up their genins. Sakura was trying to ask Sasuke if he wanted to have lunch together however the dark-haired Uchiha merely shot her down and decided to eat lunch on his own. Naruto decided he would ask Sakura if she wanted to eat lunch together.

"Ne, Sakura-chan you wanna eat lunch together, my treat." Naruto said while giving her an eye-smile.

"Naruto how many times have I told you I don't want go out on a date with you." Sakura sighed in frustration and left the room to chase after Sasuke.

Naruto was saddened by Sakura's rejection and Hinata felt a little heartbroken that Naruto once again was trying to win Sakura's heart.

'Dammit!! Just what the hell does she see in him?!!' Naruto shouted in his own mind.

"_Well I suppose she sees in him a person who has had a hard-life and feels that she can make it better for him, that and she's in love with the image of Sasuke Uchiha. After all the quiet and dark bad boy always gets the ladies I suppose." _

"Thanks for the insight dad, but I have an idea on how to find out just exactly why she likes Sasuke so much."

"_**Kit if you wanted to make her yours, just go up to her take her by the arms and…"**_

"I don't wanna hear it!!" Naruto shouted in his own mind.

"Last thing I need is romantic advice from a demon fox."

"_**Who said anything about romantic advice? I'm telling you how to be the Alpha Male, so you can bag a few…" **_Kyuubi was suddenly knocked upside the head by Minato.

"_Alright that's enough out of you furball, besides, son what's this plan you have in mind?"_

XXXXXXXXXX

Sakura was sitting by herself on a bench near a tree line; she had given up on trying finding Sasuke. Apparently she had lost Sasuke's trail a while ago, so she went ahead and sat down and wait until the time came for the Jounin-sensei's to show up.

"Sasuke-kun where are you?" Sakura asked herself.

Sakura heard footsteps and what she saw made her heart skip a beat. It was Sasuke standing in front of her smiling warmly.

"You sure have a large charming forehead." Sasuke said.

'What?!' Sakura shouted in her mind.

"Makes want to kiss it."

Sakura was visibly blushing at Sasuke's words.

"That's probably what the dobe would say." Saskue sighed as he sat down next to Sakura.

"_Naruto this is a bad idea, I think you should back out before Sasuke actually shows up."_

"Don't worry dad, knowing how Sasuke acts when fan girls ask him out to lunch, the guys gonna be as far away from here as he can."

"_I still think this is a bad idea."_ Minato said as Naruto was about to ask Sakura something.

"Sakura I was wondering, what do you think of Naruto?"

Sakura thought for a moment and then said.

"He is always getting in the way of my love…And he enjoys seeing me struggle…Naruto doesn't understand me, he's just annoying. All I want is for you to acknowledge me."

Naruto felt a little hurt from Sakura words.

'I know more about you then you think Sakura-chan…you want acknowledgement like me…' Naruto thought.

"So why do you like me so much Sakura?" Naruto asked Sakura.

"What isn't there to like about you Sasuke-kun? You're strong, handsome, and…"

Naruto just sat there listening to everything Sakura was saying. He looked into the distance sadly.

'So Saskue is that much better than me huh? Well I see that I like Sakura because of how much alike we were. Seeking acknowledgement, and here she is saying how much she likes the Uchiha. She has her hearts set on him; she'll never have those kinds of feelings for me.' Naruto thought to himself.

Once Naruto snapped out of it he realized that Sakura was going to kiss him.

'Sakura-chan is going to kiss me…correction…she's going to kiss Sasuke. I better take my leave, any other circumstance I would have taken her lips. But I don't want to kiss someone who doesn't love me or someone who never will…'

Naruto got up before Sakura got closer; he then turned around and started to walk away. This of course left Sakura disappointed and confused.

"Sasuke-kun where are you going?"

"I got what I came for, I'll see you later." Naruto said as he took off.

After getting some distance away Naruto checked to see if anyone was following him. When the coast was clear Naruto deactivated his Henge. After his disguise was gone Naruto decided to go to the one place he always seemed to go to when he was down, the swings in the academy yard.

"_Naruto…I'm sorry you had to find out that way…" _Minato said without Naruto hearing him.

"_**Damn…your kit really is hung up on that pink-haired tart huh? Why doesn't he realize that his "Tenshi-chan" has got the hots for him?"**_

"_Because he is a dense jackass like his own father, only difference is the girl who has a crush on him is a stuttering and shy heir from a clan. I on the other hand had a red-haired loud-mouth tomboy of a bombshell."_

"_**I can only assume you're talking your about your wife, since your son had to have gotten being a loud mouth from somebody."**_

"_Yup, my son got his rather loud personality from my Kushina-chan. It's funny though not a lot of people could see me and Kushina being together since we were always at each other's throats. We were rivals in playing pranks on everyone but, especially each other. I was an idiot not to realize that she was doing all of this to impress me…"_

Flashback

…Minato's days as a chunnin…

"BRING ME NAMIKAZE AND UZUMAKI NOW!!!" A pissed off Sarutobi screamed.

Minato and Kushina had just set off a series of traps to try and nail each other, the traps were all set up in the Hokage Tower and the aftermath had left the tower in a less then favorable condition. Although Minato was caught in a few of Kushina's traps, it was Kushina who was hit with the more devastating traps. Say color dye and fireworks, Kushina was pretty pissed off and wanted blood.

The blonde and the red head were now in the outskirts of Konoha and Kushina was throwing a barrage of kunai and shuriken at Minato.

"Ha! You better work on your aim Kushina-chan! I thought you were a chunnin? What hap…?" Minato jumped through a set of branches and was suddenly stopped.

"…pened…?" Minato swallowed nervously as he realized he was caught in a net of wire.

"Well what do have here?" Kushina grinned manically at Minato while holding up a kunai.

"Any last words Minato-san?" Minato only smiled nervously and motioned for Kushina to come closer and whispered.

"Yeah…I have two words…Bunshin Bakuha…"

Kushina's eyes became saucers and she leaped back as far as she could.

BOOOM!!

It was too late Kushina was propelled into the air by the explosion. In the distance Minato could only smirk at seeing Kushina's trap being turned against her. But the little victory was short lived because Kushina burst into smoke then someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Ohhhh Minato-saaaan…"

Minato was now surrounded by a dozen of Kushina's kage bunshins. Minato could only stare in shock.

"Are you going to surrender?" Kushina asked while her bunshins were brandishing kunais.

"I guess I will…sigh" Minato dropped his head down, Minato then spat something out of his mouth, it was a pill that suddenly exploded into a massive cloud of smoke.

"NOT!!"

Minato screamed out as he launched a series of kicks and punches that destroyed the kage bunshins. Kushina saw through the smoke in time and dodged Minato's punch. Kushina in return kicked Mianto in the face sending the blonde into a tree. With his back up against the tree Kushina moved in and placed a kunai near Minato's neck. Kushina was grinning at the blonde until a kunai was pointed at her neck from behind.

"Game over Kushina-chan, Fuuinjutsu: Chakra Joumae(Sealing Technique: Chakra Lock)" Minato said as he slammed his palm into Kushina's stomach, suddenly Kushina could barely stand as Minato held her from behind, all she could do was blush a bright shade of red.

"Ne, Kushina-chan why are you blushing?" Minato asked completely unaware of Kushina's feelings for him.

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with Baka." Kushina said as she got back on her feet.

'Come on Kushina! Tell the idiot you love him already!' Kushina screamed in her own mind.

"Baka? You're the one that fell for my traps and the ones you made were crap, no one can compare with "Konoha's King of Pranks!" Minato gloated.

Kushina felt a little heartbroken at Minato's hurtful words, it's not like he intended to be mean or anything. Kushina new that, it was just for her after all these years of knowing each other the blonde idiot still didn't figure out her feelings for him, because of that Kushina eyes started to tear up.

"Huh! Kushina-chan why are you crying? Is it because you realize that you can never compete with me?" Minato said while grinning like an idiot, Kushina now had tears falling out.

"No you baka, it's because you'll never know how I feel for you." Kushina said fighting back her tears.

"Huh? What do mean by that?" Minato asked rather confused.

"All these years, I never wanted to beat you in pranks. I wanted to impress you. You were one of the nicest people to me when I first came here; no one liked me because I was the foreigner. But you talked to me and made me happy, and when I saw your pranks and the traps you had set up on people. I thought that I could do the same and get you to like me, but you took it the wrong way and thought I was trying to be your rival." Kushina continued a few more tears falling out.

"Wait if you didn't want to be my rival then…"

"YOU DAMN IDIOT I LOVE YOU!!"

BAM!!

Kushina screamed out as she punched Minato in the face. She then ran off into the forest and left Minato in a rather awkward position.

"You punch somebody you love…? Wait…!! She loves me?!!" Minato shouted out loud blushing, for a moment Minato could have sworn someone made the sound of a donkey.

"Oh man how could I have been such an asshole? How could I have not noticed that she likes me? I mean now that I think about it she always did blush whenever we were in close proximity and the few times I complimented her she gave me that warm smile and then blush…now that I think about it…We've known each other for so long…even though we came at each other a lot…she was there…Dammit I gotta find her!"

Minato took off following after Kushina's trail. Minato eventually found Kushina, he then came up to her and was about to say something until she attacked Minato. In self-defense Minato had knocked Kushina out, only to his surprise that she burst into smoke. This of course continued for a while, Minato thinking that he had found Kushina only for it to be a Kage Bunshin. This was really starting to frustrate Minato, as he really wanted to apologize to Kushina and not fight her bunshins.

"That's it I had it!" Minato screamed out in anger.

"If you wanna be left alone, then fine, I'm outta here!" Minato ran away in anger.

Kushina then let out a sigh of relief and left her hidden position and sat down. Kushina started crying again.

"That jerk, I'm glad he left…but why can't I stop thinking about him…I hate you Minato…why did you have to steal my heart?" Kushina asked out loud.

"Because I'm an idiot who doesn't know what he's doing half the time…"

Kushina suddenly found a pair of arms wrap around her from behind.

"I'm sorry Kushina-chan." Minato whispered into her ears.

"How did you…?" Kushina asked in shock and surprise.

"You're not the only one that uses Kage Bunshins remember?" Minato said in a gentle yet teasing tone.

"Why are you here?" Kushina asked while trying to stop her tears from falling, she then felt Minato's hand gently wipe them away.

"Because I'm here to say you're right, I am the baka. And that I'm sorry…I'm sorry for being such an asshole, sorry for not noticing how you felt for me…sorry I hurt your feelings…an idiot like me doesn't deserve a blessing like you…" Minato said, Kushina then turned around and stared into Minato's blue eyes.

"You're such a jerk…but I can't hate you…I can never hate you…" Kushina said as she buried her face in Minato's chest.

"I think that right now I should say two simple words Kushina-chan…but I've never been in a situation like this…I may only be a young chunnin, but I've seen so much already…and yet the only thing I haven't seen is love…I don't really know if I can say it if I don't really know what it is…" Minato said with a little bit of sorrow in his voice.

"Then just say it stupid…" Kushina said in tone that was a mixture of anxiety, sadness, and hope.

"I…I love you Kushina." Minato said a little nervously.

Before he knew it Kushina pressed her lips against Mianto's lips, kissing him lovingly. Minato felt Kushina's soft lips against his own, and then the thought came to mind…

'Kushina-chan's kiss is so gentle considering how aggressive she always is.'

Before the kiss could deepen, Kushina pulled back she was blushing an impossible shade of red.

"I…I'm sorry for doing that…I-I was just..." Kushina said in a panicking tone worried she did the wrong thing until Minato smiled at her and put his finger on her lips.

"You know, one of your problems Kushina-chan is…you talk too damn much and are too damn loud." Minato said grinning, Kushina was actually a little mad now and was about to say something.

"So shut up and just kiss me." Minato said as he kissed her and Kushina kissed him back.

The couple continued to kiss until they fell back with Kushina on top. Minato licked Kushina's lips asking for entrance, she granted and now their tongues were dancing in one another's mouths. They were in paradise now, wrapped in each other's arms and kissing each other lovingly. After a few moments they stopped to take a breath, Minato smiled at Kushina.

"I love you Kushina."

"And I will always love you Minato-kun, and nothing will change it."

Minato was about to say something else when suddenly someone appeared in front of the couple.

"Now isn't that sweet, you two make a cute couple." Sarutobi said smiling at them, suddenly the smile turned into an evil grin, and killing intent was released.

"Now that you two are together, I can make you two suffer together! I will get my retribution for what you did to my office!! Any last words?!!" Sarutobi asked.

Minato and Kushina looked at each for moment, kissed, and then looked at Sarutobi while grinning ear to ear.

"Three words from me…" Kushina said while smiling innocently

"Two words from me…" Minato said.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu."

"Bunshin Bakuha."

BOOOM!!!

"MINATO, KUSHINA!!! GET BACK HERE NOW!" Sarutobi screamed out.

End of Flashback

"_And then we lived happily ever after, sorta."_

"_**Yaaawwwwnnn!! I'm sorry what were you saying?" **_Kyuubi said sarcastically, obviously trying to piss off Minato, it worked.

Before Kyuubi knew it, he was elbowed in the face. Minato then grabbed Kyuubi by the neck and slammed him into the ground.

"_Damn you…die…just die you damn fox…and make the world better with your death…" _Minato said while strangling Kyuubi, to an outside viewer this scene of attempted murder looked rather comical.

XXXXXXXXXX

Back in the outside world Naruto was unaware of the "conversation" that Minato and Kyuubi were having. Naruto was near the swings he sat down and started to rock back and forth. He was depressed and heartbroken; Naruto looked around and saw that no one was nearby.

"I liked Sakura because she was like me, because she wanted acknowledgement. It was also because of the attention she gave me. It was just some little school yard attraction, now that I think about it, could I have loved her? Probably not, I just wonder though is there anyone out there for me? Is there someone that could love me, probably not I'm just the one village monster after all…" Naruto was saying out loud.

XXXXXXXXXX

Unknown to Naruto at the moment he had someone watching him, it was Hinata. Moments before Naruto showed up at the swings and started talking out loud. Hinata was walking around academy grounds, saddened that she was once again unable to tell Naruto how she felt for him. She was also heartbroken that Naruto once again went to pursue Sakura.

"Naruto-kun I wish you knew how I felt for you; I wish I could tell you I love you." Hinata said to herself, she felt like going to the swings since that place always seemed to be Naruto's comfort zone.

That was when Hinata heard Naruto talking out loud. She had heard everything; Hinata once again was wondering why Naruto called himself a monster.

"Why did I have to get teamed up with them? Man it seems like there is nothing good about being on Team 7 now. I'm stuck with Mr. High and Mighty Broody, and my sensei is someone who I find it hard that he takes his job seriously. That damn Scarecrow is always late to everything and he's always reading his perverted books in the worst possible situation. And now the only person I thought that made being in that team worthwhile doesn't and never will love me. Maybe things would have been better if I was on the same team as Hinata…" Hinata gasped a little and started blushing.

"Hinata is a really nice person, a little weird sometimes…but she is a really nice person. I mean she was the only one from the academy to come visit me at the hospital…And now that I think about it…there really is something angelic about her." Naruto smiled for a moment and Hinata was blushing to the point where she was almost glowing red.

"I really gotta admit it she is pretty." Naruto let out a small chuckle.

"She did say that she cares for me, which is the first time someone has ever said that to me…man what I'm I what saying…I just gave up on one girl, now it seems like I'm trying to force myself to move on to another…besides I wouldn't know the first thing about love…and if she did like me, would she still like me if she knew I was a monster…"

Hinata continued to stand there hidden. She wanted so badly to go over there and tell Naruto. If she couldn't tell him that then she at least wanted to go comfort him, try and make him feel better.

'Dammit Hinata! Just go up to him now and comfort him, tell him you're there for him!' Hinata screamed at herself in her own mind.

'Just go, go, go, GO!!' Hinata closed her eyes and continued to scream in her mind, and then something unexpected happened.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto had decided to take his leave, he started walking back to the way he came and surprisingly he saw someone hiding nearby. Naruto decided to go see who it was much to his own embarrassment it was Hinata, who at the moment had her eyes closed and seemed to have been debating with herself.

'Hinata-chan was hiding back here; oh man was she listening to everything I was saying?'

While Naruto was wondering if Hinata had been listening, Hinata had decided that she would go up to Naruto. So she opened her eyes and found Naruto staring at her questioningly.

"Na-Naruto-kun?"

"Hi, Hinata how long were you there? Did you hear everything I was saying?" Naruto asked the blushing girl, Hinata's only response other than to faint was simple and very sudden. Hinata stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and pulled him into a hug.

"Hi-Hinata?" Naruto barely asked.

"I-I heard e-everything Na-Naruto-kun, y-you're not a monster." Hinata said while hugging Naruto tightly.

Naruto was overwhelmed, even though she didn't know about what was inside of him. Naruto still felt better that she said that.

"B-but Hinata-chan why are you…"

"Y-you s-said it yourself, I-I care ab-about y-you." Hinata managed to say.

Naruto could only wrap his arms around her waist and hugged her back. Naruto was feeling a lot better now. He knew for sure now that she cared about him and that was all he needed to hear.

"Thank you, thank you Hinata-chan. I really needed to hear that…" Naruto said as he and Hinata continued to hold each other.

'Maybe not now Naruto-kun, but I'll tell you soon. It would be wrong to take advantage of you while you're not yourself. I can wait a little bit longer Naruto-kun.'

The couple held each other for a while longer; suddenly the sound of a loud rumbling was heard. The two pulled apart and Naruto smiled nervously underneath his mask at Hinata while rubbing the back of his own head.

"Sorry, I haven't had lunch yet Hinata-chan." An idea came to Naruto's mind; he wanted to pay back Hinata for the comfort.

"Ne, Hinata-chan have you had lunch yet?" Naruto asked while smiling sheepishly underneath his mask.

"N-no I h-haven't had l-lunch y-yet."

"How's about I treat you to some ramen Hinata-chan?"

"I-is Naruto-kun asking me out?"

This was too much for Hinata once again. After working up the nerve to hug her love, she was already feeling the massive blood rush. And now that Naruto was asking if he could treat her to ramen, it was past the point of safe return, Hinata fainted.

AN:_ Credit goes out to _**mdizzle **_for suggesting the accidental kiss scene. Sorry it didn't go the exact way you wanted, but I really appreciate the idea. Anyway there you go another chapter. Thank you all for the reading and the feedback, I appreciate it all. _

_Anyway Happy New Years everybody!!_


	5. Introductions and Pictures?

AN:_ Thanks for the feedback everybody. _

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'talk': Thought

"_Talk": _Minato, Toads

Chapter 4: Introductions and Pictures?

After a few minutes Hinata had recovered from her fainting, at first she thought she had had a dream. However when she woke up to see Naruto giving her an eye-smile, Hinata felt like she was about to faint again, but she managed to stay conscious.

"Wakey, wakey Tenshi-chan." Naruto said playfully.

Hinata then realized something, she was moving or to be more exact someone was moving her. She then noticed that she wasn't on her feet, Hinata blushed at the realization that Naruto was carrying her on his back.

"Na-naruto-kun w-where are w-we going?"

"I said we were going to get some ramen and of course were going to my favorite restaurant for ramen, the Ichiraku Ramen Stand." Naruto said and gave Hinata his now common eye smile.

'Naruto-kun's eye smiles are really cute, but I miss his whisker marks and his smile.' Hinata said to herself.

XXXXXXXXXX

At the Ichiraku Ramen Stand, Ayame was sitting on one of stools in the front of the stand. Business was slow today and at the moment there weren't any customers around. Teuchi was in the back checking up on some supplies and Ayame had decided to take a break and sit down for a moment.

Ayame was bored and was feeling down, reasons for both were the lack of a certain blonde haired ball of hyperactive energy. For Ayame there never seemed to be a dull moment with Naruto coming to get some ramen. The last three months were pretty boring without Naruto around, Ayame was also worried about Naruto since he was nowhere to found at all.

"Naruto-kun…where did you go, you almost get yourself killed fighting a traitor and then you disappear for months on end…I miss you…" Ayame mumbled to herself while resting her head on her folded arms.

While Ayame had her head down, she heard the sound of somebody coming. She looked to see a vaguely recognizable blonde haired boy carrying a black staff and a girl with indigo colored hair on his back.

"Hmm, that's pretty cute, but why does the guy with the blonde hair look so familiar…Wait he's wearing orange…could it be?" Ayame asked herself as her eyes widened with anticipation.

"Na-Naruto-kun, y-you can p-put me d-down now." The girl with indigo colored hair said.

"Alright Hinata-chan." The blonde haired boy said.

Jumping out of her seat Ayame ran straight to Naruto and before the blonde or his companion could react. Ayame practically tackled Naruto to the ground hugging him. Naruto and Hinata had no idea what was going on until Ayame spoke.

"Naruto-kun! You're back, where did you go?!" Ayame asked in a mix of happiness, glad that the blonde was back and bit of anger and sadness, because of his three month disappearance.

"I was training Ayame-chan…can you let go now…it's getting hard to breath." Naruto said as he was trying to get back up on his feet.

Hinata was at first staring in awe at the display of affection the brunette was giving Naruto. Hinata couldn't help it but in a few seconds her feeling of awe turned into jealousy, as she realized that Naruto was being hugged by an attractive older girl. Hinata was fighting back the urge to yank Ayame off of Naruto.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun. So I can assume you're here for some ramen right?" Ayame asked as she got back on her feet, she was now blushing because of her spontaneous action. Naruto didn't notice but Hinata sure did.

"Yup." Naruto said giving her an eye smile.

'Naruto-kun's eye smile is cute, but I like his goofy-grin more.' Ayame thought to herself.

Ayame went behind the counter of the ramen stand, Naruto and Hinata took their seats on the stools. While Hinata and Naruto were getting seated Ayame was curious about the girl Naruto had brought with him. She had white, almost lavender colored-pupil less eyes, so Ayame made the assumption she was a Hyuuga.

'I wonder if she is Naruto-kun's girlfriend. He was carrying her earlier and she did use "kun" when she said his name…wait I say "kun" also, that doesn't mean I'm Naruto-kun's girlfriend…' Ayame blushed at the thought of being Naruto's girlfriend.

'Wait you can't think like that Ayame you're at least five years older than him. But then again Naruto is a great guy…and he is really cute…oh if you're so damn caught up on it just ask it's not like they'll suspect anything.' Ayame thought.

"So Naruto-kun who is your friend is she your girlfriend?" Ayame asked with a teasing smile, which was actually a mask to hide her anxiety.

Both Hinata and Naruto blushed at the question. The idea of being boyfriend and girlfriend didn't exactly come straight to mind for Naruto. Hinata on the other hand started to blush even more as she remembered the "kiss" and the hug they had earlier.

"N-no she isn't m-my g-girlfriend. Hinata-chan is a really good friend of mine we're in the same class together." Naruto said a little bit nervously.

'So she isn't Naruto-kun's girlfriend…I'm glad…I mean I thought competition wasn't going to be so fierce since Naruto was interested in that "bubblegum banshee." But this girl on the other hand could be a probl…Ayame!! What are you thinking?! Naruto is younger than you…then again five years isn't a significant gap…and I do have to point out again that Naruto-kun is a really nice guy…and even though there have been plenty of guys in my age group that are rather "charming" Naruto-kun is different. I can't deny that I have feelings for Naruto-kun…I can't give up without getting a chance at Naruto-kun.' Ayame thought to herself while she was giving a sigh of relief.

Hinata felt a little bit saddened by not being called Naruto's girlfriend; however she did feel better at being called "a really good friend." Hinata then noticed the sigh of relief that Ayame gave off at hearing that Naruto didn't have a girlfriend.

'Why does it seem like Ayame-san is relieved that I'm not Naurto-kun's girlfriend…Wait a minute…! The hug she gave Naruto…and the blush…does she have an interest in Naruto-kun?!' Hinata frantically thought.

"Well it's nice to meet you Hinata-san." Ayame smiled and extended her hand forward to shake hands.

"It's nice to meet you too Ayame-san." Hinata smiled and shook hands with Ayame.

Deep down however although they were smiling, their thoughts were a little different.

'If you think you're going to have Naruto-kun you got **another thing coming**.' Ayame said in her own mind.

'I may have decided to wait just a little longer to be with Naruto-kun, but if you think you're going to get in my way, you are going to **regret it**.' Hinata thought in her mind.

'Man I just got a chill down the back of my spine, its weird there suddenly seems to be some kind of tension building up. It almost feels like killing intent, hmm, suddenly my father's advice on women is coming back to bother me...maybe I'm just overreacting…besides it's just Hinata-chan and Ayame-chan, what do I have to worry about.' Naruto thought.

"_Son, you have no idea just how much danger you're in…though of course my saying only applies to people who are witnessing the quarrel, not the man who said women are quarreling over…"_

"_**Ha! I'm surprised that your son not only has a Hyuuga falling for him but a rather attractive waitress as well. Not to mention the waitress is older than him."**_

"_And of course my son is nearly oblivious to their feelings for him, I find it funny I had one girl who secretly admired me. My son on the other hand has two and one of them is older than him…if my son's memories aren't mistaken she is older than him by five years." _

"_**I wonder who will snag your son." **_

"_Hard to tell, I mean Hinata-san seems to have to fallen for Naruto first. Ayame-san came second, but she seems to have similar reasons to fall for Naruto."_

Minato and Kyuubi continued their conversation on who will be with Naruto. Said blonde was more than enjoying his ramen, since he had a good three months without it. Teuchi had come out from the back and was overjoyed to see that his favorite costumer was back. While Naruto was eating and answering questions from Teuchi, Hinata and Ayame had sent each other quick glances and partial glares, that didn't entirely go unnoticed by either person. They also took the time to gaze at Naruto's whisker marks that they had both thought were cute while his mask was removed.

When Naruto and Hinata, or to be more exact when Naruto finished his share of ramen. It was time for the two to head back to the academy. After thanking Teuchi for the ramen Ayame had to say goodbye to Naruto in her own way, she ran outside of the restaurant and pulled Naruto into hug where some of her "assets" were actually pressed up against Naruto. The masked blonde didn't notice right away but when he did it caused Naruto's blush to become brighter.

"I'm glad you came back Naruto-kun, next time try not to worry little old me okay?" Ayame said near Naruto's ear in a half whisper, the brunette's warm breath tickling Naruto's ear.

'Whoa! I wonder what's gotten into Ayame-chan, she's kinda what's the word I'm looking for…a little "affectionate" today…well she hasn't seen you in three months…and although she hasn't said out loud like Hinata-chan she does care about me too, I guess.' Naruto thought as he blushed a little bit more.

As Ayame broke the hug she gave Naruto a somewhat flirtatious smile and a wink. Naruto could only blush some more. Luckily for him not everyone could see the extent of the blush with his mask on. Hinata was visibly glaring daggers into Ayame as it became apparent that Ayame wanted Hianta to see this.

Not wanting to be taken out without a fight, Hinata ran up to Naruto and grabbed his hand, interlaced their fingers and started leading Naruto away from Ayame.

"N-Naruto-kun we ne-need to g-get back to the academy it's a-almost time for t-the Jounin-sensei's to c-come and p-pick u-up the teams." Hinata said while blushing profusely at holding Naruto's hand.

"Okay I'll see you later Ayame-chan!" Naruto said while being pulled away by Hinata, it was now Ayame's turn to glare at Hinata.

"_Wow! Hinata-san is making some progress. Even though she's still blushes like mad and stutters a lot. That was a pretty bold move from her."_

"_**Bold move from both of them, I could have sworn Ayame-chan was going to do more than talk into the kit's ears." **_Kyuubi said giving off a somewhat perverted giggle.

"_Damn perverted fox, to think even in here I can't get away from them."_

When Naruto and Hinata returned to the academy they found all the genin waiting for their sensei's to arrive. Naruto noticed that Sakura was bothering Sasuke, most likely due to the little act Naruto had pulled off earlier in the day. Naruto didn't feel like sitting down next to his team at the moment and his team didn't look like they would care if Naruto didn't sit with them.

Hinata noticed a grim look on Naruto's face and it didn't take long for her to notice that he was staring at his team. Without even saying anything with her hand still holding Naruto's hand, Hinata led Naruto to a pair of empty seats. Before Naruto could question what Hinata was doing they were already sitting down.

"S-sorry N-Naruto-kun, i-it looked like y-you d-didn't w-want to sit n-next to S-Sakura-san or Sasuke-san." Hinata stuttered out, although Naruto didn't notice it with all the stuttering but Hinata had said Sakura and Sasuke's names with a bit of venom.

Naruto blinked at Hinata for a few moments. He was amazed that Hinata had noticed that he didn't want to be anywhere near his teammates at the moment. At the same time Naruto noticed that Hinata was still holding his hand and that she was blushing a lot.

"Ne, Hinata-chan are you feeling well?" Naruto asked while putting his unoccupied hand on Hinata's forehead.

"I-I'm f-feeling fi-fine, w-why would y-you t-think that N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata's will not too faint was evaporating fast, due to Naruto's hand on her forehead, his close proximity, and her still holding Naurto's hand.

"Your face has been turning red a lot; I was worried you might be sick or something like that." Naruto asked as he pulled his hand away from Hinata's forehead and breathed a sigh of relief that Hinata wasn't sick.

'This is amazing! We had something close to a kiss, I hugged Naruto-kun, told him I care about him, he carried me, and I've been and still am holding Naruto-kun's hand. And now he said he was worried about me! I'm getting closer to Naruto-kun then I have ever hoped. But then again there is Ayame-san; it's obvious now that she has an interest in Naruto-kun. I can only hope that my decision to wait on my confession doesn't have Ayame-san beat me to the punch.' Hinata thought as she tightened her grip on Naruto's hand.

XXXXXXXXXX

Everyone waited patiently for their sensei's to show up. Sakura and Ino were both pestering Sasuke, Chouji was having his usual snack of potato chips, Shikamaru was dozing off, Shino was being his quiet but none anti-social self, Kiba and Akamaru were talking about something, and apparently Hinata had fallen asleep on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto himself at first was blushing but then he calmed himself down after a while.

Truth be told, Hinata had fallen asleep because she was exhausted from fighting back the urge to faint again. Before Hinata knew it she had fallen asleep on Naruto's shoulder. While Hinata was asleep she had scooted up closer to Naruto and wrapped her other arm around Naruto's arm and unconsciously gave Naruto's bicep a small squeeze.

"_**Aww now ain't that cute. Kit quickly while you have the chance kiss her!"**_

"Wh-what the hell are y-you talking about?!" Naruto frantically shouted in his mind.

"_**You know kit, it's obvious that sh…whoa…! Ack!!" **_Before Kyuubi could finish what he was saying Minato had come up from behind and pulled the demon fox into a strangle hold.

"_Don't mind the baka kitsune son; just go back to waiting alright." _Minato smiled nervously while he continued to his strangle hold on Kyuubi.

'I think dad and furball are starting to go crazy in there.' Naruto thought to himself, strangely Minato and Kyuubi didn't hear the comment.

"_**Ack! Let…go…of…me…ass…choke…hole…" **_Kyuubi struggled to say.

Minato let go of Kyuubi who was now breathing in as much air as he could.

"_**What the fuck was that for you bastard?!!?" **_

"_I'd rather you not tell my son that Hinata-san likes him or tell him about Ayame-san either. He needs to find out about their feelings for him on his own, it's either that or they confess to him."_

"_**Was there really a need to strangle me though?!" **_

"_No, not really, I could have just smacked you. Then again all that pent up aggression of being stuck in here with you for twelve years kinda came out."_

"_**Pent up aggression?! You fucking asshole!! You chose to be in here, I didn't. If anyone should have pent up aggression it should be me!"**_

"_You're pissed about being stuck in here?! I had to listen to your babble and bitch about getting out and killing this and killing that and all that crap for twelve years!!"_

"_**Oh yeah! You wanna fight about it asshole?!" **_

"_Bring it on motherfucker!!!"_

Minato and Kyuubi at this point proceeded to beat the crap out of each other. Using essentially the same method of fighting as before, Naruto felt a slight headache coming on.

'Kami dammit what the hell are dad and furball doing now?' Naruto asked in a tone of frustration.

XXXXXXXXXX

After a little while Team 10's jounin sensei Sarutobi Asuma arrived first, the jounin came in casually smoking a cigarette. He noticed Naruto and saw the sleeping Hyuuga next to him and smiled at Naruto, who returned with a glare that said, "Make fun of me about this and I'll shove this staff up your ass." Asuma flinched a little.

Although Asuma wasn't one of the nins to be assigned as a temporary teacher for Naruto when the Hokage was unavailable. The smoking jounin did get acquainted with Naruto and took a liking to him. Asuma never really did care about Naruto containing the Kyuubi but then again he didn't actually know much about Naruto either. Asuma was one of the neutrals, didn't care about the Kyuubi or bother to get know Naruto either. But after his nephew Konohamaru told him about Naruto, Asuma decided to get to know his father's new student.

After picking up the new Ino-Shika-Cho team Asuma bid farewell to Naruto and Naruto only nodded in response, not wanting to wake up Hinata. Later Team 8's sensei showed up, Yuuhi Kurenai the Genjutsu Mistress. Kurenai noticed a sleeping Hinata beside Uzumaki Naruto.

Kurenai didn't personally get to know Naruto. However she knew that Hinata had a crush on him and was aware of his three month training mission with the Hokage. Kurenai smiled warmly at Naruto, the masked blonde nodded in acknowledgement. Deep down Kureani in her own mind was more than smiling; she was jumping around shouting how cute the couple looked in a chibi form.

'KAWAII!!! They look so cute together! It's a shame Hinata has to leave now, oh but before she wakes up Heheheh!' Kurenai thought to herself while smiling mischievously.

Naruto was about to wake up Hinata when he heard a click sound, before it could register to Naruto what it was that made the sound. A bright flash illuminated the classroom.

"Ku-Kurenai-san you didn't j-just…"

"I'm sorry Naruto-san it was too cute to pass up." Kurenai smiled while twirling a mini-camera (think Kyoko Tokiwa's camera from Full Metal Panic!) by its wristband.

Things were about to get even worse for poor Naruto as he tried to wake Hinata, only for the young Hyuuga to pout in her sleep and proceeded to snuggle up to Naruto and began nuzzling his neck. Naruto was redder than Kyuubi's chakra at this point.

Kurenai smiled once more, on the inside she was shouting "kawaii" in a rather cute high-pitched voice. Before Naruto could attempt to say something to stop Kurenai she took a few more snap shots. Had it been a male he knew personally Naruto would have made some kind threat like he did with Asuma. However Naruto wasn't one to make threats to women let alone one's he didn't personally know.

In the back Shino had a sweat drop come down the side of his head, the bug user couldn't help but feel sorry for Naruto. Kiba shuddered at being reminded at what his sister Hana did with a camera whenever she caught him in an embarrassing moment.

When Hinata had finally woken up, she nearly fainted as she noticed how much closer she gotten to Naruto while she was asleep. Hinata then noticed that Kurenai was smiling at her, Hinata was now very embarrassed.

Neither Naruto nor Kurenai told Hinata about the pictures. When Team 8 took their leave, Hinata was reluctant to let go of Naruto's hand. Both Hinata and Naruto were still blushing, before Hinata left she remembered the goodbye that Ayame gave Naruto. Hinata made the decision to give Naruto a goodbye that would even the score with Ayame.

"I-I hope I can s-see you again N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said while stuttering as little as possible.

Kurenai's eyes widen with surprise as she saw Hinata wrap her arms around Naruto neck and pulled him into a slightly more than friendly hug.

'Wow! First Ayame-chan and now another hug from Hinata, well she cares about you. What more can you expect?'

How wrong Naruto was for thinking Hinata was done. Hinata was going to beat Ayame's good bye, even if it meant Hinata might be knocked out cold for a while.

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, we'll see each other again soon enough." Naruto said while hugging Hinata back.

While Hinata still had her arms wrapped around Naruto's neck, Hinata moved Naruto's hitai-ate a little and kissed him on the forehead, reason being was Hinata didn't want to kiss Naruto's mask. Not everyone saw this, accept for Kurenai who took another picture at the right moment and got the whole kiss on her camera.

When Hinata had noticed the flash from the camera, Naruto whispered into her ear, "She has pictures of you sleeping next to me also; you know this could mean blackmail for both of us." Hinata gulped down nervously, she understood the ramifications and merely nodded in response.

Hinata left with her team, her walking was a little off. The effects of her actions probably kicking in, later without Naruto knowing, Hinata fainted when the introductions began. Back with Naruto, the masked blonde had realized that Hinata had kissed him on the forehead and he now had a "Charlie Brown" smile on his face. Of course no one could see this since Naruto still had his scarf wrapped around his face.

XXXXXXXXXX

After that Team 7 was the only one left, Naruto decided to go out for a while. Sakura noticed and immediately said to Naruto.

"Where do you think you're going, our sensei could be here any minute?"

"Trust me Sakura-san; Kakashi-sensei isn't going to be here anytime soon. I'm just going to take a walk." Naruto said as politely as possible.

'That's a surprise he didn't call me "Sakura-chan." I guess he finally gave up. Finally I don't have to worry about him bothering me.' Sakura thought.

Sasuke didn't really care if Naruto was going to take a walk, though he was silently cursing Naruto for no longer in avertedly drawing Sakura's attention away from him.

After two hours Sasuke was losing his patience and was kind of irritated that Naruto was right about Kakashi not being at the academy anytime soon. Even more so Sasuke was pissed he had to be stuck with Sakura.

Finally the sound of footsteps was heard and the door slid open, a jounin with silver hair wearing a mask stuck his head in. His left eye was covered by his hitai-ate.

"Your Team 7 correct? Meet me on the roof in a few minutes." The nin said and was about to leave.

"Wait Kakashi-sensei, one of our teammates went off by himself a while ago he…" Sakura was cut off.

"Don't worry about it." Kakashi calmly said and left.

Sasuke and Sakura were both puzzled by what Kakashi meant by that. When Sasuke and Sakura arrived at the rooftop they were surprised to see Naruto waiting with Kakashi. Unknown to the two Naruto had run into Kakashi earlier when he was doing some laps around the academy. Naruto was agitated by Kakashi's tardiness, however he had gotten used to it.

"Okay let's begin with some introductions." Kakashi said.

"What do you want to know?" Sakura asked.

"How about…your likes and dislikes…dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that." Kakashi said.

"Why don't you introduce yourself first sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Trust me Sakura-san, Kakashi-sensei won't tell you much. I will however, he likes his perverted "Icha Icha Paradise" books and an ANBU Black Ops member named Rin. He dislikes loud mouths and lone wolfs and his dreams for the future aren't decided." Naruto said in a tone that seemed to show regret for knowing Kakashi.

Kakashi slouched and gave Naruto a look that said, "Did you really have too?" Sasuke and Sakura looked at Naruto in surprise wondering how Naruto knew all of this.

"I guess this is payback for all the times I came late to his training sessions." Kakashi said to himself.

"Dobe how do you know all of this?" Sasuke asked surprising Naruto.

"Naruto-kun here has had some training sessions with me when Hokage-sama wasn't able to train him." Kakashi said, still wishing that Naruto hadn't told the other genin about him.

'That explains Naruto's mask…' Both Sasuke and Sakura thought.

"Well Naruto-kun since you told them about me, you might as well introduce yourself." Kakashi said.

"Alright, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen and I hate the three minutes it takes to make Cup Ramen. I also like…" Naruto paused for a moment and thought about Hinata and Ayame, and their display of "caring." Naruto blushed as he thought about it; the people around Naruto had noticed it.

"…I also like Hinata-chan and Ayame-chan because they're very good friends of mine and I care for them a lot, just as they care for me." When Naruto said this Hinata who had just finished her team meeting and Ayame who was still at the ramen stand, both suddenly started blushing for some strange reason.

"I hate habitually late people…" Naruto glared at Kakashi.

"Broody emo assholes that need to lighten up just a little bit…" Naruto said glaring at Sasuke.

"And ignorant people who judge others without knowing a damn thing about them…" Naruto said as he quickly glanced at the village, then Sakura.

"My goals for the future…" Naruto took a look at his father on the Hokage monument.

"Is to protect those close to me, surpass the Hokage and my father, and become the next Hokage. So that the people in this village will acknowledge me and see me for who I really am and not what they believe me to be." Naruto said with conviction, had a certain green spandex clad taijutsu expert or his mini-me student saw this they would have said Naruto's "Flames of Youth were burning brightly."

XXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in Konoha Maito Gai and Rock Lee suddenly had the urge to shout about the flames and youth and run around Konoha a ridiculous number of times.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke and Sakura were surprised that Naruto mentioned his father, since he never really talked about his family before. And it was believed that Naruto was an orphan.

"_That's my boy, he makes me proud." _Minato said smiling with a bruised and swollen face.

"_**Yeah well your boy is a pain in the ass like you." **_Kyuubi said with an equally bruised and swollen face.

"_DIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!" _Minato shouted as he charged at Kyuubi.

Kakashi gave a genuine smile underneath his mask; it was a shame that none of them would see it.

'Minato-sensei, Kushina-san, you two would be proud of your son.' Kakashi thought as he signaled for the next person to speak.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't really like anything. And…I don't want to use the word "dream" but…I have an ambition, the resurrection of my clan and…to kill a certain man." Sasuke said with a rather cold and nearly emotion less voice.

Suddenly it seemed like the air had gotten colder for everyone nearby, accept for Sakura who apparently was thinking of how cool Sasuke looked saying that.

'Hmm, he's kinda like me when I was his age. Well at least I wasn't hell bent…man Obito, I can't guarantee results but I will do everything I can to make your relative lighten up. Besides I wonder if Sasuke realizes that in order to restore his clan he needs to stop being so anti-social so he can get a girl and then proceed with the method by which a man and woman reproduce through…' Kakashi quickly gave off a perverted giggle as he signaled for Sakura to go next, Naruto had a sweat drop and frowned at Kakashi's little giggle.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, the thing I like is…well the person I like is…" Sakura said while blushing and taking quick and noticeable glances at Sasuke.

"Umm…Should I say my dream for the future…?" Sakura thought for a moment, she then blushed even more.

"Oh my!!!" Sakura blurted out.

Both Kakashi and Naruto face faulted, while Sasuke just had an annoyed look on his face. Suddenly Sakura frowned and glared at Naruto.

"The thing I dislike…is Naruto." Sakura said with some venom in her voice.

'Man! I gave up on trying to get you as my girlfriend! You don't need to lash out at me anymore, damn.'

"_Yeah but she doesn't entirely know that you gave up son, don't let her get to you. After all you're all on the same team now." _

"Doesn't mean I'm gonna have to like it."

Sakura was a little surprised that Naruto didn't make some kind of shocked expression at saying she disliked him. Instead Naruto looked over to Sasuke and patted him on the shoulder.

"You can have her." Naruto said to Sasuke who only frowned back at him.

'Man she's worse than Rin-chan; at least she was a med-nin and a chunnin by Sakura's age.' Kakashi thought.

"Alright tomorrow we are going to do some survival training." Kakashi said lazily.

"But we already did that in the academy." Sakura protested.

"You guys won't believe me if I tell you, well accept for Naruto. He already knows about this…but you see…you guys still have one more test to take before you can call yourselves Shinobi and Kunoichi. And if you fail, you will have the privilege to retake the Academy."

Sakura and Sasuke both showed signs of shock and surprise, Naruto was expecting that, but that didn't mean he knew what the test was exactly.

"Wait you make it sound like it's a good thing that we have a chance to retake the Academy?" Sakura asked frantically.

"You'll see what I mean tomorrow." Kakashi said as he handed papers that showed the details of where to go.

"Oh and don't eat breakfast tomorrow or you'll throw it up if you do." Kakashi said with an eye smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning Team 7 was waiting patiently for Kakashi, if you could call it that. At the moment Naruto wasn't at the training grounds either. Knowing that Kakashi would at least be two hours late, Naruto had ran some laps and had a big breakfast.

After an hour or so Naruto finally showed up at the training grounds, Sakura was pissed that Naruto had finally showed up. Sasuke was a little annoyed that Naruto showed up instead of Kakashi.

"Where the hell were you Naruto?!" Sakura asked in anger.

"Wow Sakura-san, you and Sasuke were here at the designated time? Should have listened to me when I said he is a "habitually late" person." Naruto said in a matter of fact tone.

XXXXXXXXXX

After a few more minutes of waiting Kakashi finally showed up, the one eyed Jounin gave his lazy "Yo" greeting. Sasuke gave Kakashi the evil eye and Sakura asked where he was. Kakashi gave Sakura some pulled together excuse that was far from convincing.

"Alright now that everyone is here, the test is simple. I have these two bells on me." Kakashi held up a pair of silver bells. "You have to take them from me. Each one of you needs one to pass, you are allowed all means to get them from me. So come at me with everything you got, okay?" Kakashi said calmly.

"But sensei what if we hurt you? And there are only two bells and there are three of us." Sakura asked with concern.

"Don't worry about it. By the way this clock is set for noon." Kakashi pointed at a clock set on a stump. "You have until then to get the bells. Whoever doesn't have the bells doesn't get lunch and they get to go back to the academy. Now begin!"

AN:_ There you another chapter, sorry to everyone who was expecting action in this chapter. Don't worries the next chapter will have action._


	6. We have to work together Asshole!

AN: _Hello everyone!_

_By the way the polls are closed. _

_Don't own it. _

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'talk': Thought

"_Talk": _Minato, Toads

Chapter 5: We have to work together Asshole!

With the signal given Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura disappeared. All three effectively hiding themselves as Kakashi carelessly pulled out his favorite orange book and started reading. It was now all eyes on Kakashi as the one-eyed nin just stood there casually reading.

"Alright this will probably be the first time I've gone up against Kakashi-sensei, even in the last three months Kakashi only offered jutsu and chakra training. Well dad I suppose it's time to see how good your student is." Naruto said.

"_Well I can't say much but, be careful Kakashi is what you might say a "Jack of all Trades" when it comes to jutsus and fighting styles." _

"Don't worry dad, I'm not gonna rely on you or furball for this, after all that's what the training was for."

XXXXXXXXXX

After a few minutes Kakashi turned the page to his book, it didn't look like it but while Kakashi was reading he was also tracking down everybody. They were decently hidden, but the genin would have to learn that it takes more than just using environment to hide oneself, like masking chakra.

"Alright Kakashi-sensei! Time to kick your ass!!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs as he jumped out from his hiding spot and charged at Kakashi.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure those three months of training had to have taught Naruto that charging in and screaming isn't the best action for any kind of situation." Kakashi said to himself while still reading his favorite book.

Naruto came in from the left and threw a punch; Kakashi blocked the attack with his unoccupied left hand. Naruto immediately followed up with a kick, which Kakashi blocked with his left hand once more. Deciding to take the offensive, Kakashi redirected Naruto's leg causing the blonde to lose balance and was turned around in front of Kakashi.

"Sennen Goroshi."(One Thousand Years of Death)

Naruto frowned as he realized that he was about to get hit with the world's most violating jutsu in existence. Naruto was propelled into the air by Kakashi's ass poke technique. Kakashi smiled mischievously underneath his mask; until something unexpected happened.

POOF!!

Naruto burst into smoke, it was a kage bunshin. At the same time the real Naruto shot of the ground below Kakashi delivering a powerful uppercut. Kakashi narrowly dodged the attack and retaliated with a well place kicked. While Naruto was knocked back, the masked blonde quickly formed the seals for his favorite jutsu.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

An army of Naruto's bunshin's materialized and came at Kakashi. The scarecrow knew he had to take this many clones seriously, Kakashi put his book away and started knocking out Naruto's bunshins. Every kick or punch Kakashi threw had destroyed a bunshin. It was every three bunshins that would attack simultaneously, one from the left and one from the right, and the last one went after the bells.

It sounded like a good strategy, had it been anyone else. But Kakashi wasn't anyone else and Naruto was learning that first hand.

'Damn looks like overwhelming him isn't gonna work, I guess I'll have to use what Ojii-san taught me to use.' Naruto thought as most of his bunshins were now wiped out.

When Kakashi was through with the bunshins, Naruto pulled his staff out and stood in stance. Kakashi was about to pull out a kunai to use against Naruto's staff, until the young nin leaped into the air, just above Kakashi and brought his staff down on him. Kakashi rolled to the side narrowly dodging the attack as Naruto's staff left a noticeable imprint in the ground.

Not giving Kakashi a chance to recover Naruto held his staff in a reverse grip and started sending out a series of strikes at Kakashi. The attacks were causing Kakashi to duck and pull his head back to keep from getting stuck in the cranium. Taking advantage of Kakashi not backing up, Naruto quickly slid his staff in his hand thrusting the tip forward. The tip of the staff plowed into Kakashi's solar plexus, Kakashi stumbled back in reaction. Naruto followed up by turning his body in the opposite direction of Kakashi, using the full momentum of the turn to strike Kakashi in the side with the center of his staff.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sakura was watching the whole thing and was amazed at how good Naruto was with a Bo staff. In a different spot Sasuke also took notice of Naruto's efforts to get the bells from Kakashi.

"So that training with the Hokage really did help him, no matter the dobe is bound to miss it up for him. And when he does I'll have my shot at the bells." Sasuke said as he smiled smugly.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi barely blocked the last attack; he could feel the bones in his arm nearly bend at the impact. With his staff was still pressed against Kakashi's arm, Naruto planted his right foot down and delivered a kick with his left leg. Kakashi ducked to dodge the kick but, the force of the attack had sliced off small bits of Kakashi's hair.

Kakashi quickly threw a punch at Naruto's head; Naruto moved his head to the side and dodged the blow. Naruto responded to the attack with an upward strike from his staff. The weapon struck Kakashi's chin from underneath, sending Kakashi into the air.

Kakashi burst into smoke, Naruto was about to back away until a pair of hands shot out of the ground and grabbed Naruto's ankles. In an instant Naruto was yanked into the ground, his whole body was now buried in the dirt. His head was the only thing sticking out.

"Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu."(Double Suicide Decapitation Technique) Kakashi said in a slightly playful tone.

"Not bad Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said slightly agitated.

"Well I do have to say that your skills with the staff are rather impressive." Kakashi said while crouched in front of Naruto.

"Now then Naruto-kun you just soak up the sun and grow tall while I go and get the others." Kakashi smiled mischievously with a closed eye smile, Kakashi then ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Now's my chance!" Sasuke said as he readied up a set of kunai and shuriken.

Kakashi was about to say something else when a barrage of kunai and shuriken struck Kakashi throwing his body into a tree. Sasuke jumped out of his hiding spot and started running to Kakashi's skewered body only to find that he had attacked a log.

"A substitution?!" Sasuke said in surprise, he then took off to reassess his situation.

"So much for trying to get a bell for myself…" Naruto muttered.

"_Look underneath the underneath, Naruto that is a phrase that all ninja must remember. That and remember your teammates." _Minato said in a sage like manner to his son.

"Right, I guess I can't do this on my own…" Naruto let out a sigh of frustration as a pair his of kage bunshins he had hidden during his little one on one with Kakashi, came out from hiding.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke dashed through the forest in search of Kakashi, the Uchiha be damned if he was going to let someone get away from him using academy basic jutsus. Sasuke kept his guard up and continued searching, until finally when he decided to take a quick breather. A whistle sound was heard that got Sasuke's attention. Sasuke turned around and saw Kakashi standing by a tree casually reading his Icha Icha book.

"So, this should be interesting, I wonder how a member of Konoha's elite clan and rookie of the year will fare." Kakashi said with some interest, not even looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke quickly drew a pair of kunai and threw them at Kakashi. The one-eyed nin dodged the kunai as they embedded themselves in a tree behind him, Sasuke smiled. The kunai had explosive tags; the tags detonated destroying the tree and knocking Kakashi back. With the jounin distracted Sasuke appeared behind Kakashi to land a roundhouse kicks. Kakashi caught the attack, Sasuke followed up with a punch while Kakahsi still held his leg by the ankle.

Kakashi quickly blocked the follow up attack, Sasuke was now almost in the air upside down with Kakashi holding his leg and hand. The Uchiha quickly brought down his other leg near Kakashi's shoulder, the jounin had to block the attack. He released his grip on Sasuke's arm and ankle to stop the oncoming attack.

'Now's my chance…!'

As Sasuke dropped down, he went for the bells. Kakashi just barely stepped back, Sasuke only managed to touch the bells. Kakashi leaped back and away from Sasuke muttering, "That was close…"

"I'm not through yet!" Sasuke shouted as he went through a series of hand seals. Kakahsi's right eye widened with shock and surprise.

'What?!! With the acceptation of Naruto, genin shouldn't have enough chakra to be able use that jutsu.'

Kakashi watched the genin before him inhale and then exhale. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!!"(Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)

A stream of fire expelled forth from Sasuke's mouth, a massive inferno consumed Kakashi and everything around him. Sasuke stood there for a moment wondering if he had hit Kakashi, his answer soon came in the form of hands shooting out of the ground and pulling Sasuke into the dirt.

"Shinju…"

"I already know what the jutsu is, I saw you use it on the dobe." Sasuke said with a pissed off tone.

"Dobe? Heh, Sasuke-kun you have a lot to learn about Naruto. He isn't the dead last you imagine him to be…" Kakashi noticed the further angered look on Sasuke's face.

"…I guess you don't want to hear it, well then I guess I'll take my leave. Sakura shouldn't be far from here…" Kakashi said as he took off in the direction of Sakura.

Sasuke struggled to get out of the ground for a few minutes. There really wasn't anything he could do to get out. His hands were nowhere near one another for him to perform some kind of jutsu, nor did he have enough strength to somehow get himself out. Sasuke was frustrated he had touched the bells but wasn't able to get them, even more so he was taken down by the same jutsu that was used on Naruto.

"How the hell did I fall for the same trap as the damn dobe?" Sasuke asked himself.

"You're talking about me teme?"

Sasuke looked up to see Naruto standing in front of him; the masked partially orange clad blonde was covered neck to toe in dirt. Naruto was giving Sasuke a puzzled stare that was saying, "You fell for the same trap too?"

"Kage bunshin no Jutsu." A dozen of Naruto's bunshins materialized and started digging Sasuke out of the ground.

"Dobe, what the hell are you doing? I don't need your damn help." Sasuke said irritated.

"Yeah it sure as hell looks like you don't need my help, how were you going to get out of the ground? You obviously don't have inhuman strength or the means to use a jutsu, so just shut up and let my bunshins dig you out."

After little a bit Sasuke was finally dug out. The dark haired genin didn't really thank his blonde haired teammate, merely gave him a partial grunt of acknowledgement. Sasuke was about to take off when Naruto put his hand on his shoulder.

"Hey wait up! Where do you think you're going?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"Dobe get your hand off me…" Sasuke only turned his head to send Naruto a threatening glare. Had this been anyone else they would have been frightened and hid somewhere. But this was Naruto and he wasn't about to just let Sasuke's lone wolf/bad boy attitude get in the way of a more effective means of getting those bells.

"I think I'll keep my hand there, so where do you think you're going?" Naruto asked in a more threatening tone.

"Dammit dobe, I'm going to get those bells, I'm not about to fail this." Sasuke said as he shook off Naruto's hand.

"What the hell makes you think that you're going to be able to get those bells on your own? Look I know working with others isn't your style however; it's the only way we're going to pass this. I got a plan that might work but we need to find Sakura-san first."

"You and the pink haired annoyance will only get in my way." Sasuke said coldly.

"I already touched the bells once, this time I'll have them in my hands…"

"HA! That's funny teme, you make me laugh. There is an obvious gap/difference between having the bells and touching the bells." Naruto now had his arms stretched out to signify the difference.

"Now don't let my arms length fool you, this as far as I can stretch them, but that is a decent measure of that gap. You're not gonna be able to get those bells on your own, unless we work together, now were going to need to find…" Naruto paused as a loud scream was heard.

"_Sounds like Kakashi got to Sakura." _Minato said.

"Well at least he can't end this until time is up. Speaking of which we only got less than 20 maybe 15 minutes, alright Sasuke we gotta find Sakura and…hey!!"

Naruto saw Sasuke was about to take off again. Naruto stopped him and asked him. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"I already told you once, don't make me repeat myself."

Naruto was getting pissed; his patience for Sasuke was wearing thin. He didn't want to deal with Sasuke's attitude anymore. If offering to help won't work then a different approach was needed.

"And don't make me repeat myself either!"

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shoulder; the Uchiha decided he was going to have to force Naruto out his way. Sasuke turned around and was going to punch Naruto; suddenly the dark haired genin found Naruto's knee colliding with his stomach. Sasuke keeled over from the sharp pain before he could recover, Sasuke was struck in the face with a right-hook. Naruto now had Sasuke by the collar.

"I don't have the time or the patience to deal with your "I work alone" attitude. We have to work together asshole! I know you Uchiha's are used to working your asses off alone…"

"You don't know anything about me!! You don't know what it's like to never be seen as who you really are! I've lived in a damn shadow of someone else…to lose everything that mattered to me…I had to work alone with no one to help me!"

Naruto still holding Sasuke's collar was about to punch him again. But the masked blonde decided against it. Naruto loosened his grip and let out a light chuckle.

"What the hell is so funny?!" Sasuke screamed out.

"Look who's talking teme…you thinks you're the only one to never be seen for you really are? To lose everything? Up until these last three months I've been on my own…At least you knew your family…I didn't…I didn't even know who my parents were until three months ago…I had no one to begin with…" Naruto's eyes had some sorrow in it.

"I'll admit things have changed for me a lot…which is why the past something I starting to let go of…as much as I hate to admit it…we're a lot alike…we have to deal with the same problems…and right now is no different…so just this once can we work together?"

Sasuke looked away for a moment actually appearing to be contemplating on what to do next. In Naruto's mindscape, both Minato and Kyuubi's eyes were wide with anticipation. Sasuke then looked Naruto in the eyes for a moment.

"I guess I don't have any other choice…" Sasuke looked away little embarrassed of what he had just said.

"_Holy shit! Mark this down in the history books!! Another Uchiha has decided to work together! Damn my son really does know how to turn people around!!" _

"………" Kyuubi merely remained silent but was somewhat impressed that the Uchiha actually made the decision to work together.

"Well then teme, I'm glad you're finally going to cooper…hey wait! Where the hell are you going?!" Naruto screamed out as Sasuke took off.

"We're almost out of time, follow my lead and don't get in my way!" Sasuke yelled out going after Kakashi.

'You gotta be fucking kidding me, that asshole is taking the lead?! He doesn't even have a plan!'

"_Well son, "beggars can't be choosers" at least you got him to work with you, sorta. Hey baby steps, can't expect him to go from asshole to teammate in a day."_

"I guess so, but it looks like I won't be able to get Sakura-san to help us. This is less of a plan and more of a spur of the moment two-pronged attack."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi had just knocked out Sakura with the "Narakumi no Jutsu" (Hell viewing Technique) and now the masked jounin was heading back to the clock he had set up. He knew it was almost time for the end of the of the bell test.

'Hmm, not that I want to say Sakura is a bad kunoichi, she is after all very book smart. But she needs to work on a lot of areas and stop fawning over Sasuke if she doesn't want to get killed during a mission. Naruto and Sasuke are both very good; on their own they each had me on my feet and on constant alert. Now if they were working together…'

Kakashi's thoughts were abruptly stopped as he dodged three rather large shuriken coming from different directions. Kakashi noticed the wire line that each shuriken had tied to it.

'The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan Windmill Shurikens, then that means Sasuke got out?!'

From the distance Sasuke smirked, he had a wire in each hand and one in his mouth. Moving his hands and head to guide the wires, Kakashi was now caught in the middle of the shuriken wire. Kakashi was about to use his kunai to try and cut himself free when he heard Sasuke say.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!!"(Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique)

Flames raced across the wires as they came at Kakashi. The fire consumed Kakashi as it wrapped around his body the same way the wires did.

POOF!!

Kakashi's burning body was replaced by a log. In a nearby tree Kakashi stood ready to launch a counter attack, until he heard the sound of a fast moving object. Had Kakashi been using his "other eye" he would have seen the object coming moments ahead of time. Of course even without the use of his other eye Kakashi saw and caught the object intended to strike him. The one-eyed nin was surprised to see what the object that he had caught was.

'Windmill Shuriken…wait no way Sasuke could have been carrying th…'

Kakashi's thoughts were stopped short; no less than a few seconds after catching the large shuriken another shuriken identical to the one he just caught was hurdling towards Kakashi. The jounin barely dodged the second shuriken as it cut across his chest slicing his vest open.

POOF!!

The second shuriken burst into smoke to reveal Naruto. The masked blonde immediately threw four kunai at Kakashi. Using the shuriken already in his hand Kakashi blocked the kunai. The sharpened pieces of metal had bounced off the shuriken and were now midair or going in different directions.

At this moment Kakashi would regret his decision to block the kunais instead of dodging them. Kakashi's left eye widened at the sight of what was tied to the kunais. Explosive tags, each kunai had an explosive tag tied to it. While still being in close proximity the tags ignited.

BOOOM!!

Kakashi landed on his feet parts of his uniform was now burned. The shuriken he was holding was now missing large portions of itself. Kakashi now had some visible injuries such as burns and gashes.

'I guess they both like to use explosive tags…' Kakashi thought as he remembered Sasuke's use of exploding tags from earlier.

Sasuke came in from behind, kunai in his hand. Kakashi drew out his own kunai and blocked Sasuke's attacks. The dark-haired genin made multiple thrusts, trying to stab Kakashi. The attacks were forcing Kakashi back; he was practically running backwards while parrying the stabbing hits.

Kakashi redirected one of Sasuke's attacks causing the Uchiha to lose balance. The one-eyed nin followed up with a well placed kick to the stomach knocking Sasuke back. Naruto quickly charged in with his staff in hand, with one staff strike after another Naruto continued pushing Kakashi back where Sasuke left off.

Even with a kunai in his hand Kakashi found himself having to defend against Naruto's attacks. With the advantage of range for his Bo staff, Naruto was keeping Kakashi on his feet while keeping a gap between them that took advantage of the kunai's short range.

Sasuke recovered from being knocked back and came at Kakashi once more. Kakashi now had a kunai in each hand and was now defending against Naruto's staff and Sasuke's kunai. It was getting harder for the jounin to fend off Naruto and Sasuke's combined assault. Even though they weren't coordinating Kakashi was losing ground.

'I think I'm starting to regret my decision not to use the Sharingan…' Kakashi thought while blocking off attacks from Naruto and Sasuke's weapons.

Naruto backed away for a moment and summoned three kage bunshins. Now Sasuke, Naruto and his three bunshins were attacking from all sides. Unlike last time, the bunshins weren't wasting moves and attacks. Also it was harder for Kakashi to knock out the bunshins with Sasuke and the real Naruto coming at him with everything they could send out.

'Damn…I'm trying to bide my time until the clock beeps, but at the rate these two are pushing me…I might not make it…a slip up and those two will have the bells. I better kick things up, it looks like I won't be able to hold them off using the basics…' Kakashi thought as he continued to fend off the attacks coming from all directions.

One of the clones made a ground sweeping attack with his staff. Kakashi quickly jumped up and landed on the staff stopping it in place on the ground. The jounin swiftly kicked the bunshin in the head, the moment it poofed out of existence Kakashi threw one of his kunais at another bunshin coming in from behind.

"Two down, one more bunshin to go…"

Naruto and the remaining bunshin charged in from opposite sides. They both struck with their staffs. Kakashi managed to block the simultaneous attacks; he was now holding back two staffs with a single kunai. Out of nowhere Sasuke dropped in from the air with his feet landing on the crossed staffs.

Kakashi was rather surprised to see a genin standing on a pair of staffs that had him positioned in the air. With his feet aligned with Kakashi's head, Sasuke landed a powerful kick on the silver-haired jounin's skull. Kakashi was knocked back violently; he managed to recover and got back on his feet. Kakashi looked to see that Naruto's last bunshin was gone and that the masked blonde and Sasuke were charging at him.

Naruto saw that Sasuke was going through a series of seals and recognized what jutsu he was about to use. Naruto then decided he would follow suit and use a jutsu on the same caliber.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!!"

"Katon: Dai Endan!!"(Fire Release: Great Fireball)

Naruto and Sasuke shouted at the same time. Both the genin inhaled and exhaled, both shot out a massive breath of fire. Whether it was intentional or not on either of their parts, Naruto and Sasuke's attacks combined and formed an even larger blast of fire.

"Shit! Didn't see this coming…" Kakashi looked around for a moment and saw that he was near a stream. "…Looks like my ass isn't fried yet…"

Naruto and Sasuke couldn't believe their eyes. The moment they launched their attack Kakashi started going through a long series of hand seals, longer than most other jutsus and in blinding speed. A massive amount of water then rose from a nearby stream; it then took on the form of a dragon.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!!"(Water Release: Water Dragon Projectile Technique)

Kakashi shouted as the water dragon flew head on into the massive wave of fire.

BOOOM!!

The explosion from the attacks caused a massive amount of steam to spread out. The vaporized water now covered up Kakashi's movements. Sasuke wasn't about to let Kakashi get away in again. He knew that time was running short and to Sasuke cooperating with Naruto wasn't getting things done.

"Only a few minutes left, I don't think I can hold them that long…unless I use my Sharingan now or I use some more advance stuff against them…"

The dark-haired genin started to recklessly charge forward without thinking Kakashi wanted him to follow.

"Sasuke wait up!" Naruto shouted at Sasuke as he cut through the steam.

"Stay the hell out of my way dobe! I'm finishing this!!"

Sasuke saw Kakashi and came at him with a kick, suddenly it looked like Kakashi had disappeared dodging Sasuke's attack. Suddenly a swift upwards kick struck Sasuke from under his chin.

"Konoha Shofu."(Leaf Rising Wind)

"As long as I don't open Kaimon(Opening Gate) I shouldn't have to worry about doing too much damage." Kakashi thought as Sasuke was propelled into the air. Naruto could only watch while Sasuke was airborne. It all happened at once and Naruto was unable to help.

"Dad is that the…?"

"_Yes…it's the Goken Ryuu_(Strong Fist Style) _it looks like Kakashi learned a thing or two from all the little matches he had with Gai."_

"Kage Buyo"(Shadow of the Dancing Leaf)

In an instant Kakashi appeared directly below Sasuke while he was in the air. Sasuke just barely turned around in time to see his sensei behind him. Kakashi grabbed Sasuke in a bear hug, holding the genin in an iron-grip. The two then started to dive back down while spinning rapidly.

"Omote Renge!" (Front Lotus)

BOOOM!!

Kakashi said moments before he jumped to the clear. While Sasuke was pile drive into the ground, the force of the attack would have been greater and potentially fatal if Kakashi had opened Kaimon. However even without the first gate open Sasuke was still immobilized and badly injured from the attack.

'It looks like Sasuke-teme is out of the game…shit I don't have much time left…time for a last minute trap…' Naruto thought as Kakashi landed on the ground slightly off balance.

'It looks like Kakashi-sensei is suffering from the effects of the Omote Renge…it didn't look like he used Kaimon or the damage done would have been worse. But either way he's disorientated, I got one last chance…'

Before Kakashi could fully regain his own balance Naruto attacked with his staff. Naruto made multiple swings and strikes at Kakashi. Though off balance Kakashi was still able to dodge and evade the attacks, at first.

Naruto once more made an upward strike with his staff causing Kakashi to yank his own head back to the dodge the attack. Losing balance Kakashi fell on his own back but got back up by performing a kip-up. To an outside viewer it did not look like Kakashi had accidentally fallen back but had performed a rather impressive acrobatic feat in combination with dodging maneuver.

Almost a second after getting back on his own feet Kakashi's face met with a powerful forward kick from Naruto's foot. The kick was strong enough to send Kakashi tumbling back, while Kakashi was rolling on the ground Naruto quickly formed some seals.

"Suiton: Mizuame Nabara!!"(Water Release: Starch Syrup Capture Field)

Naruto expelled water like liquid from his gullet. The substance drenched Kakashi's feet and covered the ground. Kakashi's feet were now stuck to the ground unable to move at all. Naruto wasn't done yet though forming the sign for the Kage Bunshin, a dozen bunshins materialized and using chakra channeled to their feet the bunshins restrained Kakashi without being stuck to the ground. And one final measure was taken by the clones as one of them formed some seals.

"Fuuinjutsu: Hainawa" (Sealing Technique: Crawling Rope)

A rope made of chakra snaked around Kakashi's arms further restraining and immobilizing the jounin. Naruto smiled underneath his mask while Kakashi cocked an eyebrow at Naruto wondering what his next move was.

"So Naruto-kun I see you have me trapped…"

"I know Kakashi-sensei…but I can't take any chances with a student of my father's…and I advise you don't use any jutsus right now because my clones are my dad's favorite kind of clones…"

Kakashi's eye widened with surprise and then mumbled, "Bunshin Bakuha."

"Correct, even though I got a Fuuinjutsu restraining your arms I still don't want you to pull anything. So if my bunshins sense anything they'll explode, and it won't be a very subtle explosion. Now then with the bells…"

Naruto smiled once more underneath his mask as he gathered chakra to walk across the nearly adhesive liquid. While Naruto was walking closer to Kakashi and the bells, a certain dark-haired genin just recovered from his head being planted into ground.

"Uhhhhhh…damn that jutsu he used…" Sasuke incoherently mumbled to himself as he slowly managed to pull himself out of the ground, Sasuke saw that Kakashi was being restrained by a dozen of Naruto's bunshins.

"What the hell, the dobe has Kakashi tied up…I better take him down before the dobe screws everything up!"

Sasuke got on his feet and started running towards Kakashi from behind, since the spot that Sasuke was buried in was right behind Kakashi he couldn't see that Naruto was about to grab the bells. Sasuke jumped and landed near Kakashi not realizing that he had just gotten himself stuck in Naruto's mizuame.

"Hold him down dobes!!" Sasuke screamed out as he started forming seals to his signature fire jutsu.

Kakashi, Naruto, the bunshins, Minato, and Kyuubi all had widened eyes at what was about to happen. At the same time all of them asked the same question, "He isn't gonna do what I think he's gonna do, is he?!"

"Katon…!"

"Wait teme don't use that jutsu…!"

"…Gokakyuu no Jutsu!!"

Sasuke inhaled and exhaled a fireball at Kakashi. Naruto and the others said at the same time, "Oh shit…"

BOOOM!!!

The force of the explosion from the bunshins exploding was enough to send Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi flying. Naruto was on his back barely conscious and Sasuke's motionless body was on a branch. Kakashi was on the ground flat on his stomach and barely moving. All three were badly injured from the explosion and the torn and burned condition of their outfits reflected it.

"I…hate…you so much…right…now…teme…" Naruto mumbled out while still feeling the effects of the explosion.

"…Shut…up…" Sasuke muttered out his response.

Kakashi managed to form some hand signs and using some blood from one of his open wounds he used a summoning jutsu.

"Kuchi…yose…no Jutsu…"

POOF!!

In a small puff of smoke a pug emerged. The dog had a Konoha hitai-ate tied atop his head and had a blue vest on, with a bandage tied around his right ankle. The dog looked around and noticed the sizable damage done to the area and saw the injured Kakashi lying on his stomach.

"Kakashi what happened here? Why are you so badly injured?" The pug asked the injured Kakashi.

"Well Pakkun…you wouldn't believe me…but I was doing the…bell test…and this happened…please go get Rin-chan…gonna need a medic…" Kakashi said before falling unconscious.

XXXXXXXXXX

Later during the day Kakashi regained consciousness and saw that he was being bandaged up by Rin. Kakashi looked around to see that Naruto was staring at him, and Sakura was watching over Sasuke.

"Honestly Kakashi-kun, how did a test with genin get so out of hand for you?" Rin asked as she finished bandaging up Kakashi.

"Well when you're going up against a hell bent Uchiha and our sensei's son. Things can get really out of hand." Kakashi said remembering all the explosions that went off during the test.

"I think those two are pyromaniacs, exploding clones and tags…jeez…well I better go ahead and tell them the results of the test." Kakashi said as he got up.

"Kakashi-kun how did they do exactly?" Rin asked curiously.

"Well in a nutshell, they don't know jack shit about working together and when they do work together they're horrible at coordinating efforts."

Kakashi walked over casually to the three genin and looked at them for a moment. Kakashi sighed and decided not to tie up anyone, yet.

"From what happened in the last few hours all I can say is…" Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke stared at the silver-haired jounin with anticipation.

"…You all failed, miserably…you all failed to see the test for what it really was. You guys didn't figure out the answer, all you guys thought about were the bells. Because of that you all went your separate ways and thought you could get the bells on your own."

Naruto was taking in everything Kakashi was saying, while Minato stayed quiet not wanting to tell his son something he was supposed to figure out on his own. Naruto remembered what his father said about "looking underneath the underneath." It finally snapped together for the blonde.

"It was teamwork the whole time, you wanted us to work together rather than work alone to get the bells, right?" Naruto asked in a half calm tone.

"I see you figured it out Naruto…well I really shouldn't have said that all of you failed miserably. After all I can only assume it was Naruto that had gotten Sasuke in some way to work together. Though your "coordinated effort" if you can call it that failed badly."

Kakashi looked at his wounds and then saw that Naruto and Sasuke knew what he was talking about.

"Wait! Why did you want us to work together when there are only two bells? Only two of us would have passed. Even if we got the bells we would have ended up fighting one another for the bells." Sakura said confused about what the test was all about.

Naruto suddenly remembered how he and Sasuke were arguing, that they were both about to rip each other's throats out.

"That was the whole point wasn't it?" Naruto asked looking at Kakashi.

"I see that you made some kind of progress from training under Hokage-sama…" Kakashi said making it sound like an insult directed to Naruto's training progress.

"The purpose behind this was to see if you guys would forget your individual interests and work together under a designed circumstance…"

"But you guys all royally screwed up. Sakura you chose to look for Sasuke when Naruto was closer." Sakura had a shocked look on her face.

"Sasuke you decided to do things by yourself thinking everyone would get in your way. You did for a short while work with Naruto however you were too reckless, hotheaded, rushed in, deciding not to plan out a strategy which resulted in all three of us getting blown up." Sasuke just looked away trying not to care that he had actually screwed up a chance to get the bells.

"Naruto you also recklessly charged in…though without a plan of attack was not the case for you. However just like Sasuke you thought about handling things on your own…however! Unlike the others you did redeem yourself when you seemed to have gotten the idea that individual effort wasn't going to be enough. So of course you tried to get Sasuke to work with you, which had some success. I'm not going to blame that part on you Naruto." Sasuke frowned at the reminder that he screwed over a chance at the bells.

"Now forget what I said earlier today, Naruto you're going back to the academy. Sakura I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that had Naruto came to you before he went to Sasuke you would have been willing to work with Naruto…" Naruto and Sakura were a little bit confused about Kakashi making it sound like it was a good thing to go back to the academy.

"…As for you Mr. Uchiha…you aren't getting off easy for this…you don't go back to the academy, because you don't deserve to be a ninja." Kakashi said with a dead-serious tone.

'What!?! There is now way in hell I'm going let some damn test keep me from my ambition!!' Sasuke screamed in his mind.

Sasuke got on his feet and started running at Kakashi despite his injuries. The dark-haired genin came at Kakashi with the intent to kill. Kakashi expected this to happen and in the blink of an eye, Sasuke was face down on the ground with Kakshi sitting on top of him and a foot on his head.

"Hey you can't do that to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screamed out in protest.

"I can do whatever the hell I want, because you guys are barely fit to be ninja. You all fail to understand what it means to be a team. The duties are done by the team, of course the abilities of the individual are important to a ninja but it's the teamwork that is more important. The lone wolf that disrupts the team puts everybody in danger and even "you" get killed…" Kakashi was directly referring to Sasuke when he said who would get killed.

"…For example…Sakura kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!" Kakashi said while holding a kuani to Sasuke.

"What!!" Sakura said in shock, while Naruto dropped into a defensive stance in the event Sakura were to actually attack.

"_She wouldn't, would she?" _Minato asked out of curiosity.

"You see this is what could happen if the lone avenger gets captured and there is a hostage situation. Everyone is jeopardized and will probably die, simple as that." Kakashi walked to the Memorial Stone nearby.

"Look at the numerous names carved on this stone. These are the heroes of Konoha…But they aren't just normal heroes." Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Those are the ones who passed away, killed in action like my father." Naruto said Sasuke and Sakura were surprised to hear Naruto bring up his family again.

"Correct these are the ninjas who were killed in the line of duty…My best friend's name is carved here…" Rin who was standing nearby had a sad look on her face; she remembered all those close to her who had died, such as Obito and Minato.

"I am willing to give you guys one more chance at the bells, you all have until after lunch for the retake. Oh and before I forget…" Before anyone realized it Kakashi moved in with blinding speed and in an instant, Sasuke was tied to a log post.

"This is punishment for working alone and…for getting me blown up. You two can have lunch and nobody feed Sasuke here, if you do. **You will be failed**…" Kakashi said as he handed Naruto and Sakura bento boxes. Kakashi turned around and walked up to Rin.

"Ne, Rin-chan let's go get some lunch my treat." Kakashi said giving his eye smile and grabbing Rin's hand.

XXXXXXXXXX

After Kakashi and Rin left, Naruto noticed that Sakura was hesitantly eating her food and Sasuke was being his quiet self.

'Man so it was teamwork the whole time, huh?' Naruto thought.

"_Well son I did say look underneath the underneath after all. Even though it was a little late you did realize what was needed to be done." _

"Dad did you do this to Kakashi-sensei and Rin-san when they were genin?"

"_Well during the time Kakashi, Rin, and Obito were actually chunnin and were from different teams during the time."_

"So they were all chunnin by my age?"

"_Sorta, Kakashi became a jounin shortly after the team was formed. But yeah I did have them go through the same test. Since during the time we were going through one war or conflict after another, standard team dynamics development wasn't constantly practiced."_

'Well one more chance, can't screw this up again. I better get Sakura and Sasuke to work with me. Or at least let me work with them. I better make sure they have the strength they need.' Naruto thought as he got up and started walking to the tied up Sasuke.

"Here teme, eat up." Naruto said as he held the bento box up to the Uchiha.

"Dobe, Kakashi said not to feed me and besides I don't nee…" Sasuke stopped as his stomach gave off a loud rumble.

"I don't need to eat, I already had breakfast…" Naruto said casually.

"Baka didn't you hear what Kakashi-sensei said yesterday?!" Sakura yelled at Naruto.

"You know Sakura-san, if Kakashi-sensei wanted us to throw up from eating breakfast he would have told us to eat. Now teme eat the food or I'll make you eat it." Naruto said actually giving off some killing intent, while holding food with his chopsticks in a threatening manner.

"We have to work together, if your weak from hunger then you'll only get in the way teme. And unlike you I try not to abandon those who get in the way." Sakura was surprised by what Naruto was saying and she couldn't help but agree.

"I hate to admit but Naruto is right Sasuke-kun." Sakura said as she held up her bento box to Sasuke.

BOOOM!!

Before Sasuke could respond to Naruto and Sakura, there was an explosion behind the genin. The sudden blast surprised everyone, in the smoke from the blast Kakashi walked out with Rin behind him. The one-eyed jounin was staring at the genin with a look of anger and disappointment; he was also radiating killing intent.

"You all…" Everyone's eyes widened expecting the worst.

"…pass." Kakashi said while making an eye-smile.

"Huh?"

"…"

"Well I'll be damned." Naruto said.

"You guys were the first to actually think about your teammate, in the past everyone else would have just done what I had told them to do. And I would have failed them and they would've never known the answer. Also it's not like I could have given you guys a retake on the test, the bells I had were destroyed by the explosion." Naruto had a sweat drop, he knew which explosion Kakashi was referring to.

"A ninja must look underneath the underneath. It is a saying that my sensei taught Rin-chan and I." Naruto then realized something.

"So dad that's what you were telling me the whole time. If we figured it out sooner we wouldn't have even had a test at all huh?"

"_Yes Naruto that is true, but it's not like anyone ever figured that out that soon."_

"Those who break the rules and codes of a ninja are called trash…" Kakashi said remembering his own father and what Obito said to him those many years ago.

"…But as my best friend said, "Those who abandon their comrades are even lower than trash."

'Wow Kakashi-sensei actually looks cool saying that…now if only he would stop being late all the time, then I might have some more respect for the bastard.' Naruto thought.

"_There goes my student acting cool, if Gai was here he would chant about Kakashi's hip and cool attitude."_

XXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in Konoha Maito Gai sneezed.

"LEE!! Someone is talking about my flames of youth!! Let us go and run 100 laps around Konoha to celebrate!!"

"Gai-sensei!!"

"LEE!!"

"Gai-sensei!!"

"LEE!!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Back in the training grounds Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were still surprised that they had passed. Rin was now next to Kakashi; she clapped her hands together and said in a very sweet and cheery voice.

"Congratulations you guys are the first team to ever pass Kakashi-kun's test. You should all be proud."

"Well that's it for today, as of today we are Team 7. Starting tomorrow we will begin our missions. Now let's go celebrate with a meal my treat." Kakashi smiled underneath his mask.

"Alright!! Let's get some ramen!!" Naruto screamed out in excitement and happiness, while Kakashi smiled nervously.

AN:_ Here you guys go another chapter. Tell me what you guys think. Oh yeah and here is how the harem stands._

Hinata Hyuuga

Shizune

Ayame

Anko Mitarashi

Hana Inuzuka

Kin Tsuchi

Tayuya

female Haku

Yugito Nii

_And it is _KonohamaruxHanabi, _so Moegi will be with Udon._


	7. Meeting new people going to new places

AN: _Thank you everybody once again. By the way to let everyone know in advance a good number of sealing jutsus Naruto will use in my fanfic are actually the bakudo spells from Bleach._

_I don't own Naruto or the spells from Bleach._

Chapter 6: Meeting new people going to new places

Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Rin, and Kakashi were all heading to Ichiraku to get a late meal. On their way there everyone gave puzzled stares to the group. Mainly because the group was going straight to Ichiraku from the training grounds, so of course Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi looked like they were coming back from a war zone.

"Hey old man, bring up some ramen for me and my teammates." Naruto said happily as he took a seat.

Behind Naruto, Kakashi took a seat next to the blonde while Rin sat next to Kakashi. On Naruto's other side Sasuke took a seat with Sakura next to him. Just like everyone else that had seen the group earlier, Teuchi had to wonder why three of them looked like they fought a war.

"Sure thing gaki…uh…say why you look like you just went to hell and back?" Teuchi asked while showing a face of curiosity to Naruto.

"Take our orders and I'll explain." Naruto then gave Teuchi an eye smile.

"Alright then gaki, Ayame come out here and take a look at who's here." Teuchi yelled out.

When the brunette came out, she was happy to see her favorite blonde haired nin. Of course seeing him, Ayame decided to run over and give Naruto a hug. Naruto backed away not wanting Ayame to come in contact with him.

"Sorry Ayame-chan right now's not a good time for that." Naruto said nervously.

"Aww…you don't like me anymore do you Naruto-kun…" Ayame said in a half pout. For the moment Naruto couldn't tell whether or not Ayame was teasing or was actually hurt. In truth Ayame was surprised that Naruto backed away and of course she was starting to feel a little hurt.

"I-I'm sorry Ayame-chan, but I just finished a sort of test a-and look I'm c-covered neck to toe in dirt…and a little bit of blood…" Naruto quietly mumbled the last part.

"Wait blood? What were you doing Naruto?" Ayame asked out of concern and looked the blonde over to notice his already healing wounds.

"I can explain that…" Kakashi said casually, Ayame turned to see a silver-haired jounin with a kunoichi who had her hand interlaced with the jounins.

"And who are you?" Ayame asked.

"My name is Hatake Kakashi; I'm Naruto-kun's jounin sensei and his superior. We had an "examination" to see if the team could work together…" Kakashi then pointed to his own injuries and the ones that Sasuke had.

"As you can see it kinda got out of hand…Miss…" Kakashi nervously smiled underneath his mask.

"You can just call me Ayame."

"Ah, so you are the one Naruto-kun mentioned the day before." Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

"Na-Naruto-kun mentioned me t-to you y-yesterday?" Ayame asked out of some embarrassment.

"Yes the dobe said he likes you because you're one of his good friends." Sasuke said in his rather uncaring tone.

Ayame started blushing from what Kakashi and Sasuke said. She then looked at Naruto who looked away a little embarrassed.

"I consider y-you and Hinata-chan very good friends of mine and that I like you both…" Naruto said nervously.

"Naruto-kun…oh come here you!" Ayame said as she went over to give Naruto a hug, not caring about getting her white work uniform dirty.

"W-wait Ayame-chan m-my clothes are…" Naruto didn't finish because Ayame pulled Naruto into a hug.

"I don't care; I can always wash my clothes." Ayame said while she warmly hugged Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXX

After sometime everyone had their fill of ramen. Well accept for Naruto who had a bottomless pit for the stuff. During the meal Kakashi would every once in a while grab and squeeze Rin's hand or tickle her waist. Causing the kunochi to giggle and would tell Kakashi to stop in a sweet pout.

Sakura looked at Sasuke and wished she could be like that with Sasuke. While Ayame thought the same thing about Naruto. Sasuke noticed Sakura was staring at him momentarily and realized what she was thinking.

"Not gonna happen…" Sasuke coldly said.

During her "social interaction" with Kakashi, Rin noticed that Ayame took quick glances at her and Naruto. It didn't take long for Rin to make an assumption about the brunette. Sasuke decided take off, Sakura followed after. When Naruto finally finished his fill, the blonde said his goodbyes. Ayame once again enveloped Naruto in a hug. Now only Kakashi and Rin were still at the restaurant.

The couple finished their meal a while ago but lately the two didn't have much time to spend together. So they decided to enjoy one another's company for just a little while longer.

"So Ayame-san tell me…how do you feel about Naruto-san?" Rin asked out of the blue.

"Wh-what!" Ayame blurted out while blushing.

"You heard me Ayame-san…" Rin asked in a rather serious and stern voice, Kakashi was left rather confused as to what was going on.

"I…I'm not too sure what you want me to say…" Ayame said.

"I don't want you to say anything in particular accept for how you feel for Naruto." Rin said in a serious tone once again.

"Well I…I care for Naruto a lot…" Rin only continued to give Ayame a questioning stare.

"…For a while I thought of Naruto-kun as a little brother to me…but after what happened to him a few months back…I was worried sick. The thought of losing him would have been too much for me. It would've hurt more than losing a friend…"

Kakashi at what the brunette was saying. Rin on the other hand was seeing if her feelings for Naruto were genuine.  
"I see so does that mean you well, are you in love with Naruto?" Rin asked once more, Kakashi nearly choked at the question.

"I wasn't so sure myself at first…when I saw Naruto-kun with Hinata-san. I didn't really know how to feel…"

"Tell me, why do you like Naruto?" Rin asked.

"I…" Ayame paused to really think over how she sees Naruto.

"Everyone thinks of Naruto-kun as some kind of idiot prankster with a "sunny disposition." But that is just what he does to hide his pain. I've seen how Naruto is treated by the village. Everyone sees him as some kind of monster and they shun him, everyone pretends he doesn't exist. And anyone who does bother to notice Naruto would try to beat or kill him…"

"It's starting to look like her reasons are similar to Hinata…" Rin thought.

"I don't see a clumsy idiot or some kind of monster…I see a strong willed man who won't let anything get in his way. Someone who has seen more in the last few years then anyone should have in their lifetime. I see him as the hero he has always been…most importantly I see Naruto-kun and nothing more, just Naruto-kun." Ayame said with content.

It was quiet for a moment. Kakashi stared for in amazement, while Rin thought about Ayame's feelings for Naruto.

"Well it looks like you have the best intentions for Naruto, Ayame-san." Rin said.

"I would never do anything to hurt Naruto-kun." Ayame said in a serious tone.

"Boy this is one hell of a predicament that Naruto is now in. In all honesty Hinata-san's feelings and your own feelings for Naruto are very much alike. Sorry for putting you in the interrogation seat. But I felt it necessary to see if your feelings for Naruto were really genuine. Now I see that you and Hinata-san are probably going to have to compete with each other…" Rin let out a sigh of slight frustration.

"Well you could always share Naruto." Kakashi said with a joking tone and an eye-smile.

"Kakashi!" Rin elbowed Kakashi in the side.

"This isn't one of your perverted Icha Icha books; you can't go suggesting that someone should have more than one girlfriend!" Rin shouted to Kakashi.

"Well I'm just saying that it will save Naruto the headache, and Hinata-san and Ayame-san would save themselves time of having to fight each over Naruto." Kakashi said in a matter of fact tone, Rin's only response was to knock her lover upside the head.

BAM!

"Enough out of you ero-baka…" Rin said while holding up her fist in a threatening manner.

"Itai, itai, itai…" Kakashi said over and over while clutching his head in pain.

"Share…Naruto-kun?" Ayame thought as she stared at the antics of the couple before her. Ayame would leave this little thought alone for now as she was more curious about the questions Rin had for her to answer.

"Ano…Rin-san why did you have to see if my feelings for Naruto were…?"

"Well consider it looking out for Naruto…see Kakashi and I are students of Naruto's father. And I figured that if I couldn't raise Naruto as my own I would at least be able to watch over him this way…"

"Raise Naruto as your own?" Ayame asked raising her eyebrow.

"You're aware of what had happened twelve years ago, right?"  
"Of course…" Ayame said in a tone of slight sadness.

"Well Naruto had no parents or relatives to watch over him. I wanted to adopt Naruto and raise him as my own…however…Kakashi…" Rin said with venom while glaring at Kakashi.

"Oh come on Rin! Are you still mad at me about that!" Rin only continued to glare at Kakashi.

"We were only fourteen during the time; you know Hokage-sama wouldn't have allowed it. Also we weren't even married yet, let alone being anywhere near the age to get married." Kakashi said in a pleading tone.

"And what about now we're both twenty-seven and we are both well within the age to get married." Rin said in a somewhat upset tone.

"Dammit all to hell I knew this would lead back to the marriage issue…" Kakashi cursed himself mentally.

"Our marriage would be too strained. I mean look, you're a member of ANBU and a medic-nin who has a packed schedule at the Hospital. And I'm a jounin who just took on a genin cell. We barely have time to see each other as it is, we wouldn't be able to handle a marriage." Kakashi continued his pleading tone.

"That still doesn't change the fact that **you** turned down the idea, also look at how Naruto's life has been so far. We could have made a difference as his mother and father…" Rin continued on while Ayame stared in amazement at the conversation.

"There is no point in arguing with her…at this point I'm not getting any tonight or the night after that…or the following night…" Kakashi mumbled to himself with his head down in defeat and a teardrop going down his eye.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was on his way home after getting his fill of ramen. The masked blonde was going over how the day had gone so far.

"Well things are looking up, looking down…" Naruto thought to himself.

"_I don't think it's that bad son." _

"I guess things are working out for the better, though like you said "baby steps" can't expect completely sudden and full changes for everyone. I know Kakashi-sensei is never gonna stop being late. But hey I know how to deal with that and Sasuke though still a hot-headed ass is kinda turning around. Now if Sakura can give up on lashing out at me, then that would be some real progress." Naruto thought sarcastically.

"_Well that's team dynamics for you. Not like I had an easy time getting Kakashi, Rin, and Obito to work together. In away my team and the team you're in isn't that much different, by that I mean Kakashi was like Sasuke, Sakura is like Rin, and you're like Obito."_

"Ugh dad do you find it ironic that I'm more like Obito-san who is an Uchiha. Where Sasuke-teme is more like Kakashi-sensei?"

"_Yeah I suppose there is irony to it, but Obito wasn't like other Uchihas." _

"You mean no superiority complex and wasn't a stuck-up ass?"

"_Uh, yes I suppose that would be a way of putting it." _

Before Naruto and his father could go further into their conversation, Naruto noticed someone was approaching him, sorta. The masked blonde turned around to see who was coming up to him from behind. Because of Naruto's sudden turn around, the person was surprised and made an "eep" sound.

"Hello Tenshi-chan." Naruto said as he smiled warmly at Hinata, but because of his mask she could only see his eye-smile.

"H-hello N-naruto-kun…" Hinata said while blushing.

"A-ano…Naruto, w-why d-do you l-look…?"

"Oh this…" Naruto said implying the current the condition of his outfit.

"I just had a test of sorts with my team and sensei to see if we qualify to be a genin team. Needless to say we passed." Naruto said while smiling once more.

"C-congratulations N-Naruto-kun, I'm h-happy that y-you passed." Hinata said while giving her best smile to Naruto, the masked blonde couldn't help but feel at ease seeing genuine smile from Hinata.

"K-kurenai-sensei gave m-my t-team a test also, w-we also passed." Hinata said.

"Well I'm glad to hear that too Tenshi-chan." Naruto said and smiled warmly at Hinata.

Hinata was now blushing a bright shade of red. The poor girl couldn't handle being called an angel by her crush that many times. Hinata started to feel a little weak in the legs and was about to faint. Naruto saw this and rushed forward catching Hinata in his arms.

"You okay Hina-chan!" Naruto asked in a concern voice.

"D-did he just call me H-Hina-chan?" Hinata was having quite the overload being called an angel, being held close and of course being called with another cute nickname. Like last time Hinata was using all her will power to fight back to the urge to faint.

Pressing both her hands against Naruto's chest to keep balanced Hinata looked into Naruto's eyes to see the concern and worry in his eyes.

"I-I'm fine Naruto-kun, I'm j-just a l-little bit ti-tired." Hinata struggled to say, she could feel Naruto's rather toned chest through his vest and shirt. This of course was making Hinata even weaker in the knees.

So the young heiress fell forward, her face pressed against Naruto's chest. Hinata blushed a dark shade of red now. While she was face flat against Naruto, Hinata struggled to stay conscious.

"Hinata! Oi! Are you alright!" Naruto said in a panicked and more concerned voice, now even more worried about Hinata.

Hinata heard the panic and concern in Naruto's voice. She was starting to feel bad for making Naruto worry about her like that. Not fully realizing it Hinata slowly wrapped her arms around Naruto's waist.

"I-I'm a-alright Naruto-kun, p-please don't w-worry a-about m-me." Hinata said in a pleading tone.

Hinata started hugging the masked blonde to comfort him and reassure him. Naruto and Hinata were both blushing a new shade of red now.

"W-wait y-you shouldn't hug me, I'm covered in d-dirt…"

"I-I don't c-care." Hinata said as she continued to hug Naruto.

"Why does everyone like hugging me?" Naruto asked himself.

"_Dense idiot…"_

"_**Dense idiot…"**_

Both Minato and Kyuubi said at the same time, Naruto barely heard what his father and the fox said.

"Huh? Did you guys say something?" Naruto asked, completely dumbfounded.

"_Nothing…"_

"_**Nothing…" **_

Minato and Kyuubi said at the same time once more, both looking to the side and whistling making it seem like nothing happened.

The couple stayed like that a few more minutes. Naruto wouldn't have outwardly admitted to himself but he was starting enjoy getting hugs from Hinata and Ayame. At this point Naruto was returning the hug to Hinata as he wrapped his arms around her. People who were passing by thought the couple looked rather cute, at least those who didn't realize that the masked blonde was Naruto.

Naruto and Hinata would've stayed like that longer; unfortunately all good things come to an end. A young man with long black hair and pupil-less eyes showed up. He was wearing a short-sleeved tan colored jacket with black shorts and had on his head a black clothed hitai-ate. Also his right arm and left leg were wrapped in bandages.

"Excuse me but who are you and what are you doing with your arms around Hinata-sama?" The boy asked in a threatening manner.

"N-Neji-nii-san w-what a-are you d-doing h-here?" Hinata asked in surprise as she jumped out of the embrace with Naruto.

"Your father Hiashi-sama sent me to find you since it seemed that it was taking you sometime to get home." Neji said with a little bit irritation and aggression, Naruto noticed this but wrote it off that Neji must have been caught at a bad time.

"Who is this Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked Hinata curious who this nin was.

"T-This is m-my c-cousin Hyuuga N-Neji." Hinata said.

"Oh so you're family, well it's always nice to meet family members of close friends." Naruto said smiling and extending his hand forward to shake hands. Hinata blushed at Naruto calling her a "close friend" while Neji stared at Naruto like he had never seen a handshake before.

"Yes I am family, I am also regr…" Neji stopped mid-sentence to watch what he was about to say. "I am also Hinata-sama's bodyguard." Neji said with some venom in his voice.

"If I didn't know better I think Neji-san was about to say "regrettably." Naruto thought.

"_Yes it seems to be he regrets being Hinata-san's bodyguard. Well can't entirely blame him he is a branch family member."_

"Branch family member?" Naruto asked.

"_I think you should ask Hinata-san that when you get the chance." _

While Naruto was talking to his father it seemed that Neji was getting more and more irritated waiting around for Hinata.

"Now that you know who I am, would you care to answer my question?" Neji asked in a more irritated tone.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Shinobi of the Leaf and future Hokage." Naruto said while giving Neji his eye-smile.

Neji smirked at Naruto and then began to speak. "Oh I see, I've heard of you before."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at Neji. "So you know of me, what have you heard?" Naruto asked with a cheerful eye-smile.

"That you're this year's dead-last loser who wouldn't have passed the exams had you not gotten lucky in beating a rouge chunnin." Neji said as he continued smirking.

"Okay I'm really starting to dislike this guy's attitude." Naruto said to himself.

"_Down boy, best not get into fight just after your test with Kakashi."_

"_**Che, I say you beat the crap out of his punk ass." **_

"N-Neji-nii-san d-don't say that a-about Naruto-kun!" Hinata tried to say in the most serious and stern voice she could muster, she somewhat failed at the attempt.

"Hinata-sama I only speak of what I have heard about Uzumaki-san, I did not say that it was true…" Something came to mind for Neji after taking in what he saw a moment ago and how Hinata was reacting towards an insult to Naruto.

"…I apologize; I did not mean to offend your boyfriend Hinata-sama…"

In a flash both Naruto and Hinata blushed at being called a couple. The blush was furthered as the two remembered what they were doing earlier before Neji showed up.

"W-we're n-not in a r-relationship…" Both Hinata and Naruto stuttered out at the same time.

"I see…well anyways Hinata-sama we have to go now." Neji said while thinking about how Hiashi would react to being told about what he saw earlier.

"Ano…I-I h-have to go n-now N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said as she started to take her leave, the shy heiress wanted to give Naruto another hug before she would leave. However she was afraid of the consequences of doing it around Neji.

"I want to give Naruto-kun another hug, but Neji-nii-san is here and…Wait! He's already seen me hug Naruto-kun. One more isn't going to hurt and besides, if I want to be with Naruto-kun I should stop being afraid of consequence."

With a new resolve Hinata stopped and turned around to give Naruto a hug, much to her surprise she found Naruto standing in front of her.

"I'll see you later Tenshi-chan." Naruto said warmly as he pulled Hinata into a quick hug.

"T-thank y-you Naruto-kun." Hinata said while blushing.

"Hinata-sama, please we have to go now." Neji said in an even more irritated tone of voice.

As the Hyuuga's started walking back Hinata realized that Neji seemed to have been somewhat upset that he had to find her and had to wait on her.

"N-neji-nii-san I-I'm s-sorry Otou-sama h-had to s-send y-you to find m-me, I k-know you must have be…" Hinata was suddenly cut off.

"Hinata-sama don't bother to apologize to me, there is no point in it. It won't make up for the fact that I had to once more find **you** on behalf of your **father**." Neji said with much restrained anger and venom in his voice. Naruto who was still standing where he was heard what Neji said.

"Hey! You don't need to be that rude to Hina-chan! She was just apologizing to you." Naruto said in Hinata's defense.

"N-Naruto-kun its o-okay, d-do not…" Neji smirked and cut off Hinata.

"You know I am really starting to think that you and Hinata-sama are in a romantic relationship…" Naruto was about to open his mouth to object, when Neji continued speaking.

"…It would only be fitting for a dead-last loser to be the boyfriend of family failure and weakling." Hinata couldn't help but lower her head in sadness and hurt, but she wanted to say something that would get Neji to stop his insults.

"What the hell did you just call Hinata?" Naruto asked in a threatening manner while releasing killing intent.

"You heard me dobe, you two are meant for each other because you're both failures and rejects." Naruto was about to rush forward and strike Neji until Hinata stopped him.

"P-please Naruto-kun d-don't, Neji-nii-san, h-he has his reasons b-being l-like this. D-Don't fight him p-please." Hinata said pleading with the one she loved not to fight her family.

"_Naruto listen to her, this isn't the place for it. Nor is it a good idea to start a fight with the Hyuugas. I know he insulted you and he…"_

"To hell with insulting me! That bastard made an insult to Hinata-chan! I'm not going to let that slide!" Naruto shouted to his father.

Naruto wanted to rush over and knock Neji upside the head. However something wrapped around his waist, stopping Naruto in place. The masked blonde had anger in his eyes when he looked down to see Hinata staring at him. The shy girl flinched a little at seeing the anger in Naruto's eyes. Naruto started to sag his shoulders realizing he had probably frightened Hinata with his angered look.

"Please N-Naruto-kun don't d-do t-this." Hinata begged in a pleading tone once more. Naruto couldn't help but calm down and let go of the anger he had.

"Sorry Hina-chan, I won't fight Neji-san." Naruto said reassuringly to Hinata smiling at her.

"_Glad you cooled it son. I know Neji crossed a couple lines, but now is not the place for it. If anything at all just wait for a chance to get him in a training ground and then rip him a new one." _

"_**I still think you should beat that arrogant prick." **_

"_No body asked for your opinion furball." _

"_**And no body asked you to be your sons babbling conscious." **_

"_Correction someone did, his name is the Shinnigami. Sound familiar to you, you know the one that ripped your spirit out and put you in here." _

"_**Fuck you." **_

"_That the only thing you have to say furball? Thought so…"_

Once Naruto began to calm down Hinata had let go of him. Naruto continued to smile reassuringly to the heiress. Suddenly Naruto and Hinata heard Neji give off chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked while frowning at Neji.

"Oh nothing, it just seems that you're not only a dobe but also naïve idiot to be told what to do by a weakling." Once more Hinata lowered her head down in sadness once more hurt by her cousin's words. Naruto saw Hinata's reaction to the label; the masked blonde clenched his fists in anger. The previous aggression and thoughts of sending Neji to the ER came flooding back in full force. And the sight of Hinata hurt by Neji's words only served to add to the anger swelling back up in Naruto. Before it could register to Hinata that Naruto was once more angered, the masked blonde disappeared from sight.

"He's faster than I thought." Neji said to himself as he witnessed Naruto dash towards him.

With speed that surprised Neji, Naruto was in front of him in a blink. Naruto threw a punch with his right fist, Neji with some effort dodged Naruto's attack. In one fast motion Neji slid to the left and was behind Naruto, the Hyuuga delivered an open-palm strike to Naruto's back. Naruto was sent forward his body about to fall face first flat on the ground.

Using his hands to prevent the impact with the ground Naruto immediately pushed off and did a front flip. Landing on his feet Naruto turned around and ran towards Neji, at the same time Neji did same. The two charged at each other like a bats out of hell. Naruto launched a forward kick at Neji, he immediately blocked the attack. Not giving him a chance to counter Naruto pulled his leg back and followed up with a kick from his other leg. Neji barely ducked in time to avoid a hit to the cranium.

The moment Naruto got back on both his feet after his attack Neji rushed forward at Naruto. The Hyuuga launched a series of open-palm strikes at Naruto. With a good amount of effort Naruto was dodging the fast paced attacks from Neji. Naruto waited for an opening in Neji's attacks and found it, Neji had moved a little bit further than needed to try and hit Naruto. Taking advantage of it, Naruto wrapped his arm around Neji's arm at the elbow. With his arm locked in place Neji couldn't pull back. Naruto then used his other arm and grabbed a hold of Neji's collar and said.

"Got you now!" Naruto shouted as he pulled his head back.

BAM!

Even with hitai-ate's on their heads it didn't do much to soften the impact or decrease the force of Naruto's head-butt. Neji fell back on the ground, a small but visible dent was seen on his hitai-ate plate, Naruto's plate had a dent on it also. Neji quickly shook off the effects of the attack and got back on his feet.

"How the hell did that dobe manage to get a hit on me!" Neji asked in anger, pissed off that Naruto hit him with such a…"unorthodox" attack.

His judgment now somewhat clouded Neji reached into his holster for a kunai, seeing this Naruto yanked out a kunai from his own holster to use. With weapons at hand the two nins were going to go all out on each other. Both Naruto and Neji decided to target the neck with their kunais, as they were about to strike someone suddenly screamed out.

"STOP!" Hinata screamed out at the top of her lungs. This of course surprised Naruto and even Neji since neither person had ever heard Hinata scream out loud. Needless to say Naruto and Neji had stopped their kunai's short of the others major artery.

"P-please s-stop fighting, please…" Hinata begged with tears in her eyes.

Naruto dropped his kunai and his arms went limp. His train of thought became clear as his anger subsided.

"What the hell am I doing! I was pissed off because of how that bastard was making Hinata feel. And now look at what fighting him has done, I'm so stupid. I made Hinata-chan cry." Naruto thought grimly as he lowered his head.

"I-I'm sorry Hinata-chan…I s-shouldn't have done that…I'm sorry!" Naruto suddenly started running away before Hinata could say anything else.

"I made Hinata-chan cry…I hurt her…I wanted make that bastard feel pain because he hurt Hinata's feelings…but my stupid ass had to make things worse…I'm sorry Hinata-chan I don't deserve you as my friend." Naruto said to himself as a small tear-drop feel from his eyes.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said quietly as she stared at Naruto running away, worried about what might have been going through Naruto's mind.

Time Skip

…two weeks…

"This is Cyclops has is the target within range?"

"Cherry Blossom reporting in, the target is moving fast."

"This is Wolf I've sighted the target."

The target was moving at blinding speed through the forest. Its pursuers could barely keep up with him. However another one of its pursers was lying in wait. Before it knew it, the target was caught.

But suddenly in pure reflex the target brought out its claws and diced up its captor in a flash. Its captor burst into smoke and started running off again. Another pursuer dropped down in front of the target.

"Fuuinjutsu: Geki" (Sealing Technique: Strike)

The target screeched and then stopped frozen in its position covered in a red light.

"This is Arashi, target has been acquired." Naruto casually said as he picked up the paralyzed feline.

XXXXXXXXXX

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY PRECIOUS TORA?" The wife of the Fire Daimyo screamed at Naruto who had his hands covering his ears.

"_Damn that was loud enough to hurt my ears! And I'm just a spirit!"_ Minato said covering his ears.

"_**Oh you're complaining! I'm the one that has acute hearing!" **_

"No need to scream madam. Tora is just fine; I merely used a jutsu on him to slow him down. I can easily get rid of the effects, watch…" Naruto merely snapped his fingers; the red light that surrounded Tora disappeared.

The feline collapsed on its belly, exhausted from being stuck in the same position. Sadly Tora wouldn't get a chance to take a breather because he was pulled into a choking embrace by the Daimyo's wife. After thanking everyone and paying for the services, the Daimyo's wife left with Tora who was struggling to escape.

"And to think the other teams wonder why that cat is always running away." Naruto thought as the Hokage congratulated Team 7 for a job well done.

Sarutobi was about to begin the brief for the next mission, Naruto figured it was another low D-rank mission. The masked nin decided to take an early leave not wanting to have to hear about teamwork development and being told he had another gardening or dog walking mission.

"Naruto-kun where are you going?" Sarutobi asked.

"I don't feel like listening to another briefing on some D-rank mission Ojii-san." Naruto said somewhat depressingly.

"Hmm, something isn't right. I figured that Naruto would be complaining about D-rank missions by now and requesting something of a higher rank. Not only that he's been acting like this for two weeks now. Maybe a change in mission will change his mood; there is that low C-rank escort mission to "Nami no Kuni." Sarutobi thought.

"What makes you so sure it's another D-rank?" Saurtobi asked Naruto.

"So you decided that we're ready for something a little higher?" Naruto asked a little bit intrigued but he still had his doubts.

"Well it is only a minor C-rank escort mission to Nami no Kuni, you will be escorting a bridge builder and protecting him from bandits and so forth." Sarutobi said not wanting to sugar coat anything.

"Alright whatever, if my teammates don't have a problem I think we're copasetic." Naruto said in uncaring tone of voice making it seem like he didn't really care of the new development. This of course didn't go unnoticed by anybody in the room.

"Wow I was under the impression Naruto would be jumping around about this." Kakashi thought to himself.

"First he stops asking me out and now he barely reacts to anything, what's wrong with him!" Sakura asked herself.

"I can't say I like the way the dobe is acting now, but then again I don't miss the old one either." Sasuke thought to himself.

"Iruka have you noticed Naruto has become rather…" Sarutobi paused for the moment looking for the right words.

"Emotionless? Yes I have noticed it also seems he maybe moping around about something." Iruka whispered his assumption.

"Well this will have to be dealt with later." Sarutobi said as he singled for the client to come in.

It was a man who had graying spiky hair; he looked to be in his late fifties. The man came in drinking from a bottle. Judging from his movement the man was obviously intoxicated.

"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats." The man then looked in Naruto's direction.

"Especially the short one with the stupid mask, do you actually consider yourself ninja? Well!"

Everybody visibly flinched expecting the worst reaction from Naruto, even his own father expected the worse and Kyuubi was hoping for something.

Naruto turned to face the man his eyes showing the utmost seriousness, "Say what you will sir but know that this is the services you will be receiving from the money you are paying. If you wanted a better team then I suggest you up the pay-grade. Other than that I will do everything I can to protect you."

Everyone was completely caught off guard by Naruto's rather calm and partly smartassed remark. The client frowned at Naruto then took another gulp from his bottle.

"You had better protect my ass I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect super protection until I get back to my country and finish the bridge I'm building." Tazuna said with a rather unfocused look in his face. Naruto looked at the man for a moment.

"Yes sir, understood." Naruto said in a tone that couldn't be distinguished as either sarcastic or serious while he made a quick salute.

Naruto left a room full of baffled people, accept for Tazuna who didn't really know what was going on. Everybody was surprised by Naruto's change in personality. It was true that Naruto wasn't as loud as he used to be after he trained with Sarutobi and various other nins. However this was a real dramatic change.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto made his way out of the Hokage Tower wanting to be left alone. For the last two weeks Naruto hadn't really been acting himself. Reason for that was because the incident with Neji. Naruto felt bad for trying to fight Hinata's relative even after she had pleaded with him not to.

The masked blonde stopped for a moment and saw a familiar blue-haired girl enter the tower. Naruto quickly hid himself as Hinata and her team made their way through. When she was gone Naruto quickly left the tower.

"_Son you gotta stop beating yourself up over this. You've been avoiding her for two weeks now, I'm pretty sure Hinata-san is worried about you."_

"I would like to think that dad…but I can't face her…I hurt her. She begged not to and I did it anyway…"

"_Son you can't…"_

"Yo Naruto!" Kakashi said as he appeared out of nowhere behind Naruto. This of course interrupted what Minato was going to say next.

"Naruto we need to talk about something." Kakashi said in a half serious tone.

"_People sure like to interrupt what I'm going to say next." _Minato said as he face faulted and let out a sigh of frustration.

"_**That's what happens when your son and I are the only ones that can hear what you're saying." **_

"_Yes sadly that is true…" _

"_**So your son still moping around about trying to beat that pricks ass down?"**_

"_Unfortunately yes…"_

"_**I don't see why…the bastard needed his ass handed to him. And I doubt Hyuuga-chan would have been mad at your son."**_

"_All true, as a matter of fact Hinata-san probably doesn't blame Naruto for anything. However this has more to do with Naruto's overreaction to his own actions."_

"_**Care to elaborate?" **_

"_Well my son growing up hasn't had a lot of friends or people real close to him. Neglect and attempts on his life didn't help the situation either. Because of that Naruto could easily get really attached to someone real fast, especially if that person openly well sorta openly acknowledges and reciprocates feelings and friendship. But not only would he get attached to someone fast he would also end up becoming very protective of that someone."_

"_**So? Then that just only justifies the Kit's reason for going after that asshole."**_

"_It's the other reason for my son being protective that I'm trying to explain to you. See my son becomes quickly attached and protective because of the idea of losing someone close to him and being left with an even shorter list of people he could call friends and companions. Not only does that stem his need to be protective but it gives him his fear of losing someone close to him. Also this is the first time Naruto has been this close to anyone. See his need to protect to those close to him doesn't just have to be protecting them from others but from him self as well, you would know why right?"_

"…" Kyuubi frowned a little, he understood what Minato meant.

"_So when he saw Hinata-san crying, he assumed the worst and believed it to be his own fault. Now he believes he failed in protecting Hinata-san from himself."_

"_**So now your blooming idiot of a son is staying away from the Hyuuga so he can continue to protect her from himself."**_

"_I suppose that's a way of putting it."_

XXXXXXXXXX

"So Kakashi-sensei what did you want to talk to me about?" Naruto asked casually while walking with the sliver-haired jounin.

"Well I…er…well everyone has kinda noticed your change in personality in the last two weeks. You seem to be more distant and quiet." Kakashi said a little bit nervously.

"It's nothing to for you to be concerned about Kakashi-sensei. So I've gotten a little bit quieter, shouldn't that be a good thing?" Naruto asked Kakashi.

"Well yes I suppose, but you knew when to stay quiet. Now it seems like your doing this all the time. Did something happen to you?" Naruto frowned at the question but his mask hid it.

"Look Naruto, I admit I may not be "Teacher of the Year" or let alone anything close to family for you but know that I care for you like family. I always considered your father Minato-sensei like my own father. So in part I look at you like a brother, even though I haven't really shown it." Naruto blinked at Kakashi a couple times, he was completely surprised he would ever hear Kakashi admit to being a bad teacher, let alone say he considered him a brother.

"Look Kakashi-sensei…don't worry yourself about it. Something did happen to me but it's something I need to deal with alright. I appreciate the concern especially since it's coming from you. I didn't expect you to be the first one to ask me, I kinda figured Iruka-sensei or Ojii-san to come, no offense." Naruto said to the sliver-haired jounin.

"None taken, in all honesty I have another reason for being concerned."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at Kakashi. "And that would be?"

"Well…" Kakashi paused for a moment to rub the back of his head nervously. "You see Rin-chan is also very concerned about you. Since she can't constantly watch over you she expects me to do so in her place. So if you were going through something per se bad and I didn't do anything about it…Well let's just say I can't enjoy the better known pleasures of a relationship between a man and a woman…" Kakashi blushed a little and let out a perverted giggle. "…Oh that and she would beat me silly."

Naruto had a sweat drop come down the side of his head while Kakashi still rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Ohhh…I see what you mean Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto said in a sarcastic tone of realization.

"So you're not mad at me?" Kakashi asked.

"Of course not I understand your situation…"

BAM!

In an instant Kakashi was sent through the air with his head knocked back, Kakashi then landed flat on his ass. When the jounin got back up his right eye was now quickly becoming swollen and discolored.

"Grrrrr…Baka hentai-teme…" Naruto grumbled as he left the injured Kakashi.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next day everyone met at the gates of Konoha. Tazuna, Sakura, and Sasuke waited for Naruto and Kakashi to show up. As usual Kakashi was late and Naruto was taking his time to arrive knowing that Kakashi would be late.

As usual Naruto arrived late but only half an hour before Kakashi. Both were bombarded with glares and questions of being late. Naruto's only response was, "You knew this was going to happen." And Kakashi had a pulled together not very well thought up story.

XXXXXXXXXX

By this time Team 7 and Tazuna left for "Nami no Kuni." Everybody accept for Naruto was a little bit curious as to why Kakashi had a partially black eye. Kakashi merely said, "Ask Naruto…" while Naruto merely sent off a glare that said. "Don't ask me…" In actuality Kakashi's eye would have looked far worse had Rin not healed it. Though she didn't heal it completely because she believed Kakashi did deserve to get punched in the eye.

While walking towards their destination Kakashi and the others got on the topic of the Five Shinobi Nations and foreign ninjas. At some point Tazuna told Naruto how impossible and hopeless his dream to be Hokage was. It once again gave everyone a strange sense of anxiety that Naruto once more didn't burst out screaming at the man. However Naruto instead released a mass of focused killing intent and had used tiny bit of Kyuubi's chakra to transform his eyes for a moment, thanks to Minato. From that point on Tazuna tried not to piss off Naruto.

After a while longer things started to quiet down. While walking Kakashi noticed a puddle on the ground and pulled Sakura aside so she wouldn't step in it.

"Well this has been a rather subtle C-rank mission, not much to do around here." Naruto thought.

"_Well like you said it's just a C-rank, anyway son we need to talk about you and Hinata-san…" _

Before Minato could get to the topic a man wearing a diving mask leaped out of the water, he had on a heavy looking metal gauntlet that had claws and a sharp chain attached to it, his mask had a "Kirigakure no Sato"(Hidden Mist Village) plate on it. It was obvious he was a nin of Kiri. Behind him was a man wearing a similar outfit, he to also had on a identical gauntlet with a chain that connected to the others. In the blink of an eye the two nins wrapped their chain around Kakashi.

"What the…!"

"Huh!"

Kakashi's eye widened with shock at the trap he was in.

"One…"

"Down…" Both the nins said one after the other.

The chains began to tighten, before the eyes of Team 7 and Tazuna, Kakashi was torn to a mass of bloody shreds. Everyone was shocked by the execution of the jounin. The two nins then charged at Naruto, they were ready to wrap their chain around the blonde like they did with Kakashi.

"Two…"

"Down…" Both men said.

Seeing that his teammate was about to be diced up Sasuke charged in and threw a kunai and shuriken combination. The chain was now pinned to a tree; both nin detached their chain and came after Naruto and Sasuke.

Naruto's reaction was a little delayed; his left hand was cut by the claws of the Kiri nin. Backing up Naruto pulled his staff out and the blocked nins second attempt to claw at him. Pushing him back Naruto thrust his staff forward, the tip of the staff struck the nin in the neck causing him to choke for air. Naruto rushed in and sent out a series of strikes that came in from the left and right. The nins arms were getting battered tying to block the attacks. Naruto decided to end right then and there as he leaped into the air and brought down his staff on the Kiri nin. The force of the attack broke the man's collar bone dropping him to his knees.

While Naruto had taken on and beaten one of the nins, the other came after Sasuke or at least that's what it looked like. Dodging Sasuke the nin went straight after Tazuna, Sakura jumped in front with kunai in hand. Suddenly a blur stopped the nin in place, knocking him out. Much to everyone's surprise and relief it was Kakashi who was holding up the nin casually.

"Kakashi-sensei how did you…?" Sakura asked in shock and surprise.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu." Kakashi said to his student casually.

Everyone then looked at the spot where Kakashi's tattered remains were supposed to be only to find chopped wood blocks.

"_**Hmph, looks like your son and student are holding up on they're own."**_

"_Grrrrrrr!" _

"_**The hell you so mad about?"**_

"_For the love of Kami! Why does everyone interrupt me when I need to talk to my son?"_

Kyuubi merely looked at Minato nervously and mumbled, _**"Baka…"**_

XXXXXXXXXX

After using some wire from their gloves Kakashi and Naruto tied up the two nins. Kakashi then looked at the two nins and then Tazuna.

"Naruto we need to open that wound in your arm. Those claws they used were laced with poison." Kakashi said with some urgency.

"_Poison like this maybe deadly to a good number of people, but with your super charged regeneration and immune system. Only the most deadly poisons would actually harm you." _Minato said in a matter of fact tone to Naruto.

"Yeah but they don't know that dad, I better open up this wound before someone makes an even bigger deal out of this." Naruto said to his father.

"No need to worry about my wound Kakashi-sensei I got it handled…" Naruto reached into his holster and pulled out a kunai. Before anyone could ask what Naruto was going to do, the masked blonde shoved the kunai into his wound cutting it open and letting the blood pour out. Everyone, accept for Kakashi who just twitched his eyebrow, had wide eyes and stared at Naruto who didn't show he was in a bit of pain stabbing his own hand.

"Naruto-baka what the hell is wrong with you! Here let me help you bandage that up." Sakura said as she reached into her pack for some gauze.

"Hmph, I'm surprised you're concerned…" Naruto said rather coldly to Sakura, "…However I got it handled." In no time Naruto had his own combat dressing out and wrapped up his hand. Naruto really didn't need to bandage the wound since he could already feel it healing up, but he had to keep up appearances.

"_You know son you really didn't need to say that to Sakura-san."_

"I know but it kinda slipped out. And besides consider it a slight payback for all the crap I had to take from her. Don't worry dad I'm not gonna take any further than that." Naruto said reassuringly to his father.

"We need to talk. These two shinobi's are Chunnin of "Kirigakure no Sato" They're known as the Oni Brothers Team, and they've been known to fight to the end." Kakashi said in a serious and urgent tone to Tazuna.

"How did you know we were coming?" One of the brothers's asked.

"On a sunny day like this and the fact that the area has had no rain in the last month or two, it's very unlikely to see a large puddle in the ground." Kakashi said.

"If you knew then why did you let the brats fight them?" Tazuna asked, shocked that Kakashi had endangered everyone.

"If I wanted to I could have killed them, but I needed to see who they were after." Kakashi said as he stared at Tazuna.

"Wh-what do you m-mean?" Tazuna asked nervously not being able to hide anything.

"The shinobi were either after you or one of us. We were not told of any shinobi coming after you, we were merely told to protect you from thieves, bandits and so forth…"

"…" Tazuna stayed quiet.

"…A simple C-rank escort mission, that's what this was supposed to be. This has become at least a lower to mid B-rank mission now. I suppose that you had a good reason to avoid mentioning nins coming after you because of the increase in pay needed for a B-rank. But this has complicated things and now this mission is beyond the abilities of my team." Kakashi said as he started gathering everyone up to head back to Konoha.

"Please…before you leave at least hear out my reasons." Tazuna begged.

"Fine I'll hear what you have to say…" Kakashi sighed.

XXXXXXXXXX

For the next hour or so Tazuna explained everything to Team 7. He told the Konoha nins about who was after him, the man being Gatou who ran a large shipping company but was actually a powerful crime lord. Tazuna went into detail about the current economic condition of Nami no Kuni and how Gatou had control of the economy. It was also revealed that the bridge Tazuna was building was a means to get the countries economy back on its feet, making the bridge builder a threat to Gatou and his business activities.

"_Man the times have changed, for a petty criminal to actually bring a country down to its knees…this Gatou has got to go."_

"So are you saying we should continue the mission dad?"

"_Well it's not up to me son, I wish it were. But I'm a talking seal; I have no say in this."_

"_**I wish you didn't have a say in other things too." **_Kyuubi mumbled to himself.

"_Shut it furball, less you want me to beat your ass down."_

"_**Is that supposed to be a threat!"**_

"_No it's me saying I'm gonna beat the crap out of you!"_

"You guys seriously need to find a new hobby." Naruto mumbled to himself while his father and Kyuubi were about to begin their daily ritual of beating each other up.

"As you can see because we're too poor to cover the expenses of a B-rank mission. Look if you quit now…I'll surely be killed, please this isn't just about me. This is also for my country." Tazuna said in serious and pleading tone.

"Well I'm not one to normally quit on something, besides if we delay any further we'll be behind schedule." Naruto said out loud to everyone.

Everybody suddenly had a weird look in they're face. "What schedule?" Everybody thought at the same time.

"Naruto-kun this is far more complicated than that…"

"Look Kakashi-sensei I never quit or run out on anything no matter how bad the situation or condition. And besides Tazuna-san…" The bridge builder looked at Naruto. "…Like I said yesterday, this is the services you will be receiving from the money you are paying. If you wanted a better team then you should've up the pay-grade. Other than that I will do everything I can to protect you. Besides it's only the right thing to do to help this country out, it's something my father would have wanted me to do." Kakashi knew what Naruto meant by when he was talking about his father.

"Jeez…Well as much as I would like to stick to the regulations, abandoning a man in need isn't apart of nindo either. Not to mention this could prove beneficial to Konoha by improving political relations with Nami no Kuni." Kakashi said in a partial thinking pose.

"_I think my student was going to continue the mission either way." _Minato said while holding Kyuubi by the collar with his fist cocked back.

"_**Yeah that seemed kinda obvious…" **_Kyuubi commented while he had Minato by the collar and his fist cocked back as well.

"_**Hey wait a minute!"**_

"_Hey wait a minute!" _Both Minato and Kyuubi said at the same time when they remembered what they were doing a moment ago.

"_Grrrr!"_

"_**Grrr!"**_

BAM!

Both Minato and Kyuubi punched each other at the same time.

"_Ow! My front teeth!"_ Minato said while holding his mouth

"_**My nose!"**_ Kyuubi said while holding his nose.

"Che figures…" Sasuke said a little annoyed. "Sensei made his decision we might as well get it this over with."

"This is the right thing to do, let's get going." Sakura said a little energetically.

XXXXXXXXXX

"This is it for me. Goodbye and good luck." The sailor said to Tazuna while Team 7 got off his boat.

"Yeah, super thanks to you." Tazuna said to the sailor as he sped off on his boat.

"Okay then, now get me home safely!" Tazuna said happily as he and Team 7 made there way through a forest.

"Kakashi-sensei do you think the ANBU got your message yet?" Naruto asked Kakashi.

"Pakkun should have brought them to the Oni Brothers by now."

Before Team 7 and Tazuna continued on their way, Kakashi had summoned Pakkun to deliver a message to the Hokage. It told the Hokage about the sudden change in the status of the mission as well as a request for an ANBU team to pick up the Oni Brothers.

"Alright everyone from this point on stay alert got it?" Kakashi said to the genins.

"Hai." All three genin said in unison.

Unknown to Team 7, hidden amongst the trees were two figures. Both wore masks and were observing the Konoha nins as they continued on their path.

XXXXXXXXXX

Back in the forests near Konoha a team of ANBU was moving the captured Oni Brothers to Konoha to be interrogated by Morino Ibiki. Among the ANBU present were Rin and Yamato.

"Leave it Kakashi-senpai not to abandon a person in need." Yamato said trying to strike a conversation with Rin.

"Ne, Rin-san what's wrong? You've been really quiet for a while now." Rin let out a sigh of worry.

"I've been quiet because I can't get rid of the feeling something really bad is about to happen." Rin said in a concerned tone.

"What do you mean?" Yamato asked not to sure what it was Rin so was worried about.

"We know Gatou is a very rich and powerful crime lord. If he was willing enough to hire a pair chunnin like these two to go after Tazuna and considering what Gatou has to lose in the completion of that bridge. It's a very good chance someone more dangerous and more skilled maybe sent after them." Rin said once more concerned.

"Well if it was something that Kakashi-senpai felt he couldn't handle on his own he would have requested backup." Yamato said reassuringly.

"Well I can't stop thinking about this. That's it I'm going after Kakashi-kun." Rin said as she turned around.

"Hey Rin-san wait! We have our orders to bring these two back." Yamato said in panic.

"Don't worry I don't need you or anyone to come along, besides the Hokage will understand. Tell him to consider me apart of this mission detail now." Rin said as she took off in the direction Team 7 went.

Yamato and the rest of the ANBU were left out in the open wondering what had just happened. "Oh boy I'm gonna have fun explaining this to Hokage-sama." Yamato thought nervously.

XXXXXXXXXX

The sound of rustling in nearby bushes was heard. Acting on instinct and muscle memory Naruto flicked his wrist and a kunai shot out of his sleeve. In a flash Naruto threw the kunai into the bush. Everyone had been surprised by Naruto's sudden reaction to a noise.

"Naruto! What the hell do you think your doing!" Sakura screamed at Naruto.

"I heard something Sakura-san; it sounded like someone was following us." Naruto said calmly.

Kakashi walked over to check what it was. Much to everyone's surprise and annoyance, and a little embarrassment on Naruto's part, it was a white rabbit. The poor little critter was scared to death and had a kunai right above its head. Naruto had looked at the rabbit nervously.

"Ano…Usagi-san sumimasen, I didn't mean to try and hurt you." Naruto said while rubbing the back of his nervously.

"_**Mmm, rabbit…"**_Kyuubi started to visibly drool over the furry creature.

SMACK!

Minato had slapped the back of Kyuubi's head.

"_This is so not the time for you to be drooling over the little critter. Besides haven't noticed something wrong with the rabbit Naruto, Kyuubi?"_Minato asked both the fox and his son.

"_**I don't see anything wrong with the damn rabbit, I wanna eat it!"**_ Kyuubi said while Minato smacked his hand to his own face.

"_You freaking idiot…look at it…that rabbit is white, even though it's spring." _Minato deadpanned.

The moment it snapped together for Naruto, Kakashi was already checking his surroundings while still looking like he was standing casually. Hidden among the trees a man with bandages wrapped around his face like a makeshift mask, was observing the group.

"I see no wonder the Oni Brothers didn't stand a chance The Hidden Leaf's Sharingan Kakashi, this will be fun…" The figure leaped out of his position.

"Everyone get down!" Kakashi shouted.

In the blink of an eye a large spinning object sliced through the air cutting everything in its path. Kakashi ducked while Sasuke grabbed Tazuna and pulled him down, Naruto followed and yanked Sakura and the rabbit down to the ground. Overhead the object flew right above them and embedded itself in the body of a large tree.

Getting a good look at the object it was identified as a very huge zanbato. Though what was more surprising was a man standing on the sword's handle.

"Well if it isn't Kirigakure's nuke-nin Momochi Zabuza." Kakashi said staring at the man before him.

Naruto was about to form the signs for the Kage Bunshin however Kakashi stuck his hand out and signaled for everyone to stay back.

"Everybody get back. This one's on a whole other level." Kakashi said in dead serious tone.

"_Naruto listen to Kakashi on this. It's better if he handles the nin."_ As much as Naruto would have like to help Kakashi, he understood the seriousness of the situation.

"Alright dad."

"You appear to be Sharingan Kakashi, sorry but the old man's life is mine." Zabuza said as he coldly stared at Kakashi.

"Sharingan!" Sasuke thought in surprise

"Well it looks like I'm going to have to use it. Considering the situation I'm not going to take any chances with Zabuza." Kakashi thought as he pulled his hitai-ate up uncovering his left eye which had a scar over it. Kakashi opened his eye to reveal his Sharingan.

"Looks like I'll finally see Kakashi-sensei use the Sharingan." Naruto thought.

"Surround and protect Tazuna-san, do not enter the fight, those are your orders." Kakashi said to the genin.

"I'm honored; I already get to see the famous Sharingan." Zabuza said in amusement.

"Well Zabuza you're in for a treat because I have something else to bring into fight. Oh and Naruto I guess you can finally see my skills in Kenjutsu." Kakashi said as he reached into his vest and pulled a sheathed tanto.

"_So he finally forged it back together." _

"The "Hakko Chakura To" (White Light Chakra Saber) of the legendary "Konoha no Shiroi Kiba" (Konoha's White Fang), I was told that weapon was destroyed during Konoha's war with Iwa." Zabuza said a little bit wide eyed.

"This is my father's keepsake I wasn't going to leave it busted forever." Kakashi said a little jokingly.

"Back when I was a member of Kirigakure's assassin team, the Bingo book I kept had information on you. And it said, "The man who has copied over a 1,000 jutsu, Copy Ninja Kakashi." Zabuza said.

"What's going on here…the Sharingan is a Kekki Genkai that only members of the Uchiha Clan posses. Could he be…no he can't?" Sasuke thought to himself.

"Enough with talking, I have a job to do. That old man has to die."

Like a signal the genin immediately surrounded Tazuna with weapons drawn. Zabuza quickly kicked off the tree and pulled his zanbato out. The nin landed in the middle of a lake, he formed some hand signs and started channeling chakra.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu" (Hidden Mist Technique) Zabuza said as the forest was filled with a thick mist that started to obscure everyone's view of him.

"He's gone!" Sakura shouted out.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I can't believe I'm going back in this direction again." The sailor said out loud as he steered his boat back to the port he dropped Tazuna off on.

"Look your being paid a good amount of money for this, so don't worry." Rin said to the sailor.

"I only accepted the job and the money when you threatened me, I really don't want to be here." The sailor frowned when said it.

"Sorry but it's very important that I get to Tazuna-san." Rin said calmly, while the sailor stared at the masked kunoichi.

"Well since this is to help Tazuna I guess this will be one more favor for the man." The sailor said reluctantly.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Eight choices…" Zabuza's voice rang out throughout the forest, the voice seemingly coming out from all directions instead of one point. Everyone was now feeling extremely unnerved by the lack of sight and Zabuza's voice that seemed to have been everywhere.

"Liver, lungs, spine, clavicles, neck, vein, brain…What should I go after?" Everyone suddenly found it hard to breath.

"Damn this killing intent...it's hard to stay focused." Naruto thought as his breathing started to become erratic.

"_Naruto calm down, you and I both know that you have been exposed this kind of killing intent before." _

As the killing intent began to wash over everyone, the mist continued to become thicker. Even though Kakashi was only a few feet away from the genin, it looked as if Kakashi was vanishing from sight as well. This only served to further increase the fear and panic building up in everyone.

"What incredible killing intent, it feels like I'll be killed if I make the wrong move. This could drive a person crazy. It feels like the life is being squeezed out of me…" Sasuke thought as he began to sweat bullets while visibly trembling. Tazuna and Sakura weren't fairing any better, Naruto was visibly showing his fear but he was not being nearly as affected by the killing intent as everyone else.

"I can't take it anymore…I'd almost rather die now and get it over with…" Sasuke thought to himself as he raised his kunai a little closer to himself.

Suddenly a bright white light shined through the mist, practically piercing mist. For a moment everyone stared in awe. Taking a closer look the light was coming from Kakashi or to be more exact his tanto.

"Everyone don't worry, I'll protect all of you even if it kills me." Kakashi said reassuringly. His calm voice and the sudden illumination from his blade seemed to have taken a little bit off the pressure from Zabuza's killing intent.

"_See this is the reason why it's called the Hakko Chakura To."_ Minato said as he smiled at his former student.

"I don't let my comrades die." Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

"We'll see about that!" Zabuza shouted as he appeared in the middle of the genin and Tazuna.

"It's over." Zabuza said calmly.

Kakashi focused chakra to his Sharingan. The moment Zabuza was about to swing his zanbato a bolt of white light shot through air in blinding speed and embedded itself in Zabuza. The bolt of light was Kakashi and his tanto, the white light that radiated from the blade seemed to have extended out of Zabuza's back even though the blade itself didn't.

Everyone was shocked and for some were partly amazed, to see just how fast Kakashi had moved and already dealt a fatal blow to Zabuza. However the group was in for another surprise, instead of blood dripping out of Zabuza's wound, it was water.

"Kakashi behind you!" Naruto screamed out as the real Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi while the other burst into water.

"Gyaa!" Sakura screamed in terror as she saw in one full motion swing, Zabuza's blade slicing through Kakashi's waist.

Suddenly Kakashi's body broke down into water. Zabuza became wide eyed as he realized that Kakashi had just used the same jutsu.

"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Water Clone Technique)

"Kuso! He copied the jutsu even in the mist!" Zabuza thought to himself.

"Don't move, it's over!" Kakashi said as he appeared behind Zabuza and pointed the tip of his tanto to the nins throat.

"Damn Kakashi…" Naruto said in amazement and relief.

"Wow!" Sakura said.

"…" Sasuke stayed quiet but on the inside he was impressed by his sensei.

"Hehheh, it's over? You don't get it. There's no way you can defeat with your monkey-like imitations." Zabuza continued to chuckle. "I say it was rather impressive, when you reassured your team you had already copied my jutsu and created a Mizu bunshin to take your place while you waited and hid in the mist. However…" Zabuza paused for a moment.

"I'm not that easy to fool." Zabuza said in a dead serious tone, only his voice came from behind Kakashi.

"Another bunshin!" All three genin yelled out at the same time.

Using both his hands Zabuza made a full swing with his zanbato. Kakashi quickly dropped down on his knees dodging the massive blade. Zabuza let go of one hand to let the blade swing around his back. With the blade burying itself in the ground, Zabuza alternated his hands on the handle of his zanbato. Using the momentum of the sword swing Zabuza delivered a strong reverse side kick.

Kakashi was launched into the air. Zabuza picked up his weapon and charged in, only to immediately stop in place.

"Makibishi!" Zabuza looked down to see the ground covered in metal spikes.

SPALSH!

While Zabuza was stopped in his place, Kakashi landed in the lake. When the jounin surfaced he could barely move.

"What! The water is so damn heavy…" Kakashi said as he struggled to get out of the lake.

Zabuza smirked underneath his mask and went through a series of seals. Two Mizu bunshins materialized behind Kakashi. The bunshins then went through their own seals.

"Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu." (Water Release: Water Prison Technique)

Water quickly formed around Kakashi, trapping him in an orb of water. Kakashi struggled to move and break out but he was nearly immobile. Zabuza smiled underneath his mask; now that Kakashi was trapped he would have fun taking care of the genin.

"Now…Kakashi we'll finish this later. First I'll take them." Zabuza pulled his zanbato up and turned around to face the rest of Team 7 and Tazuna. "Wearing hitai-ates and pretending to be real a ninja. But you can't be a ninja if you haven't looked death in the eyes. You're only worth my time if you're in my book." Zabuza went through the seals for the Kirigakure no Jutsu. Once more Zabuza disappeared in a growing mist.

"Shit! He disappeared again!" Naruto shouted as he reached for his Bo staff.

Falling in from above, Zabuza's zanbato came in from overhead. Naruto brought up his staff and blocked the massive blade. The force of the attack created cracks underneath Naruto's feet. Zabuza followed up with a kick to Naruto's stomach knocking him back a few feet. As soon as Naruto stopped, he was struck in the face by Zabuza's fist. The attack had enough force to fracture Naruto's cheek bone and knock off his hitai-ate.

"Just a little snot nosed brat." Zabuza said as his foot stomped on Naruto's hitai-ate.

"You guys take Tazuna and run!" Kakashi yelled out from his water prison. "You guys don't have a chance of beating him!" One of the Mizu bunshins looked at Kakashi and said.

"Now, now Kakashi, if I were here keeping you captive and it was a bunshin that went after those brats. Then running away might have made some kind of difference, however they won't be able to run away from the real me. Especially since I'm going to chop off their little legs…" Everybody visibly cringed at the image of Zabuza's action.

"That bastard, I'm not going to let him keep his foot on Iruka-sensei's hitai-ate." Naruto thought to himself.

Naruto charged at Zabuza with his staff ready to strike. The blonde swung his staff to the side; Zabuza blocked the weapon with his zanbato. Naruto dropped down and made a sweep kick at Zabuza's legs. The former Kiri nin easily dodged the attack by jumping up, however Naruto did not intend on actually hitting Zabuza, instead the attack kicked Naruto's hitai-ate into the air.

"Gotcha!" Naruto said as he reached out and plucked his hitai-ate from the air. Unfortunately Naruto wouldn't get a chance to enjoy his small victory, the moment his hitai-ate was back in his hands. Zabuza had one foot back on the ground and the other planted into Naruto's face. Naruto was sent skidding across the ground causing a large dust trail to follow behind him.

"What are you doing! Are you trying to get yourself killed!" Sakura screamed out to Naruto as he got back on his feet, blood was now visibly accumulating on his mask.

"_Naruto that was very reckless, you shouldn't have done that." _Minato said to his son not nearly as upset as Sakura.

"Like hell I was gonna let that bastard step on my hitai-ate!" Naruto said out loud as a response to both Sakura and his father. Naruto then looked at Zabuza as he firmly retied his hitai-ate.

"Hey no-brow! Put this in your book, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's future Hokage." Naruto said with a grin.

"What an arrogant little punk. Do you think you can stand against me?" Zabuza asked in a threatening manner while releasing killing intent. Naruto stood his ground not even reacting to the threat.

"This is bad…" Kakashi thought. "What the hell are you doing! Run away! This fight was over the moment he captured me. Our duty is to protect Tazuna, did you forget that!" Kakashi yelled to his team to flee.

"Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto said calmly. "The other day you told me that you consider me family, well you know what? I feel the same way and I don't abandon family." Naruto stared at Kakashi with a look in his eye that showed his resolve. "And besides remember what you said about teamwork? Those who don't follow the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are even lower than trash."

"Naruto…" Kakashi said to himself. In all respects the sliver haired jounin was touched, if he wasn't trapped in an orb of water he probably would have shed a tear of pride for his sensei's son.

"Jeez…Hey gaki, if you think you can get your sensei out of there then do it. It's my fault you are all in this mess. It's only right that I let you do this." Tazuna said.

Naruto turned his head to look at Sasuke. "Teme, you had better take advantage of the time I'm gonna buy you."

For a moment Sasuke had to wonder what Naruto was talking about. That was until he realized the weakness to the Suirou no Jutsu. "Pft, dobe you're going to get us all killed you know that? But you're right, I'm not gonna abandon a teammate either."

"Besides how am I supposed to get strong enough to kill Itachi if I don't fight strong opponents?" Sasuke thought to himself.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Zabuza suddenly laughed out loud in front of everyone.

"You brats seem to refuse to grow up, seems like you want to keep playing ninja. When I was your age…" Zabuza looked at his own hands for a moment. "…These hands were already drenched in blood."

"Devil of Kirigakure." Kakashi said as he looked at Zabuza.

"Ah so you heard of it." One of the mizu bunshins said.

"Long ago in Kirigakure, this was also called the Village Hidden in the Bloody Mist…their final obstacle to become ninja…" Kakashi paused for a moment to remember the reports on their exams.

"So you know about the exam…" Everyone stared at Zabuza wondering what it was that he did to become a ninja.

"To become a ninja of The Bloody Mist, the students entered one on one battles to the death. Students who were friends, who trained with one another and eaten together…who shared dreams helped each other by making sure the other would become a ninja…with their death." Zabuza said as everyone stared in shock.

"Ten years ago Kirigakure had to change their exam because of an incident the previous year. When a devil appeared…" Kakashi continued for Zabuza.

"W-what did this devil do?" Sakura hesitantly asked.

"Without hesitation or pause, a young boy, not even a ninja yet. Had killed over a hundred of the students…" Zabuza paused once more before he smiled. "Man that was fun." Everyone stared in shock as it became abundantly clear that Zabuza was that devil.

With the momentary distraction Zabuza charged in and knocked down both Naruto and Sasuke. Zabuza drew his zanbato out and brought it's blade down on the two genin.

POOF!

Both Naruto and Sasuke were replaced with logs as the massive blade decimated the ground. Naruto and Sasuke were standing next to Sakura and Tazuna, both were breathing hard.

"That was close…" Naruto said while Sasuke only nodded in agreement.

"Alright enough screwing around it's time to end this." Naruto said as he readied his staff.

"_Naruto are you sure about this?" _Minato asked his son in concern.

"Don't tell me you lack faith in your own son." Naruto said to his father.

"_I don't lack faith in your abilities, just be careful. Just to let you know the moment this gets out of hand, I'm going to release some of furballs chakra, got it?"_

"Thanks dad, but I won't need it." Naruto said as he stared at Zabuza ready to fight.

"Ha! You got some guts. Tell me do you think that Bo staff of yours will stand up to my blade?" Zabuza asked Naruto while staring at his staff.

"In all honesty, I'm actually not very good at Bojutsu…" Everybody was shocked to hear Naruto say he wasn't good at using a staff; everybody was left to wonder why Naruto would use a staff if he wasn't good at using it.

"…then again who said anything about me taking you on with my staff?"

AN: _Sorry it took a while for an update everyone. Oh and I apologize if it seems like I tried to rush and cram everything in one chapter. _


	8. 4th's Legacy vs Demon of Kirigakure

AN: _Well I'm glad people have liked the way the last chapter went. Well here is the next chapter, everyone enjoy. Oh and I apologize for falling behind on my intended release of this chapter. I wanted it out a week or two after the last chapter but I recently got __**Super Smash Bros. Brawl**__. And I have been hooked on it._

_Special thanks go out to _**Dragon Man 180 **_and _**mdizzle **_for their reviews and response, I'm glad that a lot of people are enjoying this fic._

Chapter 7: 4th's Legacy vs. Devil of Kirigakure

"What?!" Everyone thought or spurted out at the same time.

"You heard me; I didn't say I was going to use my Bo staff. It's not my main weapon." Naruto said calmly to everyone.

"Dobe what the hell do you got planned?" Sasuke asked a little skeptical about what was about to transpire.

"Look just trusts me on this, as soon as I go after Zabuza. You take down those Mizu bunshins got it?" Naruto said in a low and serious tone.

"Hmph." Sasuke grunted as he nodded in acknowledgement.

"Enough with this no matter what you use, you're not going to be able to beat me. Now time to finish my job." Zabuza said as he charged forward with his zanbato over his back and his right hand holding its handle.

"_Naruto remember, it only takes one good hit from that zanbato to screw you over." _Minato said to his son.

"Don't need to tell me twice."

Naruto grinned underneath his mask while Zabuza came at him. Naruto suddenly held up his staff by both ends and much to everyone's surprise Naruto pulled the ends. The Bo staff suddenly separated into three separate pieces, Naruto held two of the pieces, one in each hand. While the middle piece of the staff was midair. Naruto quickly brought up his foot and kicked the middle section at Zabuza. The former Kiri nin was surprised by the sudden disassembly of the weapon, he quickly used his left hand to knock away the incoming staff piece.

The moment Zabuza knocked away the piece that was kicked at him; Naruto was already a foot away from him. However rather than attack him head on Naruto dropped down and rolled passed Zabuza. Naruto jumped back on his feet as soon as he was behind Zabuza and immediately turned halfway to attack. Zabuza with effort moved his weapon and blocked Naruto's attack with the body of his zanbato, preventing the weapon from hitting him in the back. The masked blonde was now partly facing him and at the same time partly had his back to him; Zabuza was also in a similar postion.

"Well I'll be damned…" Zabuza said as he saw that his zanbato stopped the tip of a short blade that Naruto held in a reverse grip with his left hand.

"Surprised?" Naruto smirked as he moved his right foot back and quickly turned around pulling his weapon back. Now on Zabuza's right side Naruto swung his other weapon at Zabuza, which he held in a normal grip trying to slash Zabuza's neck. In the process of swinging his blade Naruto was now in a full motion spin.

Zabuza managed to dodge the attack and swung his blade in the opposite direction of Naruto's weapon. As soon as Naruto faced the massive zanbato coming at him Naruto leaned back and dropped onto the ground with his back against the grass and dirt.

"He's not going anywhere." Zabuza thought as he brought his zanbato up and made an overhead slash.

"Naruto!!" Everyone screamed out in shock and horror as they saw the massive sword about to cut Naruto in two.

Suddenly sparks could be seen flying from Zabuza's sword. Everybody was now wide eyed at the sight before them. Naruto was blocking the massive weapon with both his feet in the air using geta sandals. Naruto grinned as he pushed back the blade with a partial kick and started to spin on his back swinging his legs in kind of low sweeping kick. Zabuza jumped back avoiding the unique attack.

"Double kodachis hidden in your staff and steel plated sandals. That's clever I'll give you that much." Zabuza said.

"No wonder the dobe wore those wooden geta sandals." Sasuke thought to himself.

"And I thought he wore them to make himself look taller." Tazuna said out loud.

"Hehheheh, trust me that isn't all, now I'm going to show what I can really do with these. Now let's get wild!" Naruto said with a grin underneath his mask.

XXXXXXXXXX

"It looks like this is what the dobe meant by buying me time." Sasuke said quietly to himself, but loud enough for Sakura to hear.

"I'm counting on you to protect Tazuna, Sakura." Sasuke said as he stared at Sakura with the utmost seriousness.

Sakura blushed for a moment but quickly understood that right now wasn't time for it. "I understand Sasuke-kun." Sakura replied.

Sasuke saw that Naruto was about ready to take on Zabuza directly. The dark-haired Uchiha was never one to favor teamwork. But even he understood that now was not the time to be "Mr. Army of One." Especially since he still hadn't shook off the effects of Zabuza's killing intent. The feeling and understanding that the wrong move would get him killed was now etched into his mind.

Naruto made his move; Sasuke followed and went straight towards the lake where Zabuza's Mizu bunshins held Kakashi captive. With Naruto about to take on the real Zabuza, Sasuke would have the chance to take out the Mizu bunshins.

"Those bunshins shouldn't be a problem taking down." Sasuke thought as he readied some shuriken to throw as he neared the lake.

Sasuke threw a set of shuriken at one of the Mizu bunshins. Not entirely to his surprise the other bunshin left his position and deflected the shuriken with his zanbato.

"Figures, it's not like that jutsu requires two people to maintain it…" Sasuke thought as he readied his kunai to face against the Mizu bunshin now standing before him.

"I better finish this bunshin fast." Sasuke said to himself, the Mizu bunshin smirked, before Sasuke knew it he was kicked in the stomach.

"Don't think taking down a bunshin is going to be that easy." Zabuza's Mizu bunshin said as he readied his zanbato.

Sasuke got back on his feet ready to engage the bunshin. The dark-haired genin clenched his kunai and charged in. Things didn't seem to go well with Sasuke however. Although Sasuke was the one to charge in, it was the bunshin that now had him on the defense.

Sasuke was dodging and blocking the massive blade before him. Every single hit that his kunai took Sasuke could see bits of the metal come off from his weapon. For a second there was an opening in the bunshins attack. Sasuke rushed in ready to deal a deathblow.

"Don't get cocky…" The bunshin said as he grabbed Sasuke's wrist with his unoccupied hand and started to twist it.

Sasuke made a grunt of pain. He didn't scream, but his face wretched in pain. The bunshin yanked Sasuke by the wrist and kneed the Uchiha in the head. Falling back Sasuke was now disorientated; he could barely stay balanced as blood started drip out of his nose and mouth.

"Still willing to play shinobi?" The bunshin asked as he delivered another kick to Sasuke, this time striking him in the face.

Sasuke was now on his knees, he was struggling to keep from falling face flat. The dark-haired genin was now coughing up blood as it dripped down the side of his mouth.

"H-how…?" Sasuke managed to ask the bunshin.

"You're wondering how a clone is beating your ass. Well a solid bunshin isn't supposed to be that strong; they don't perfectly copy everything from the original. Even if a large amount of chakra is poured into its creation, a bunshin is still a bunshin, not the real thing. Then again a bunshin may not directly copy everything and posses all of the abilities the real thing has but to put it simply even as a bunshin I'm far more skilled than you." The bunshin said as he disappeared from sight, Sasuke narrowly brought up his kunai in time to block the bunshins weapon. However something unexpected happened.

SNAP!!

Sasuke's kunai broke in two. The massive blade cut through the weapon and hit Sasuke's shoulder.

"AHHH!!" Sasuke screamed out in pain as blood poured out his shoulder.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto charged in at Zabuza, from the looks of it Naruto looked almost unbalanced while running. His body was leaning left and right constantly, at some point it looked like Naruto was about to fall to the side. The masked blonde swung the blade in his right hand at Zabuza. The former Kiri nin ducked down and retaliated by swinging his massive blade at Naruto's legs. Naruto jumped over the hunched Zabuza, while in the air Naruto kicked off a tree, turning his body in the air. He was now right above Zabuza ready to strike him down with his kodachis.

Zabuza stepped back in time to dodge the overhead strike. As soon as Naruto hit the ground his back was turned to the Kiri nin, Zabuza attempted to cleave off the blondes head once more. Naruto dived forward, dodging the attack; he then made a series of front flips. Not far behind him Zabuza was giving chase.

Every time it seemed like Zabuza had caught up to Naruto and was ready to strike him down. Naruto would just go into a handstand and jump into the air doing a flip or somersault, dodging the nins zanbato.

"Hold still you little bastard!" Zabuza shouted as his attempt cut down Naruto failed once more.

"What's a matter no-brow? Having trouble hitting the brat whose "playing ninja"? Naruto taunted as he continued to dodge the massive head-cleaver that was being swung at him.

At this point Zabuza was chopping down everything in his path trying to hit Naruto. In the process the local landscape was being severely devastated. Portions of the land were being kicked up, massive indents were being left in the ground, and trees were getting cut down left and right.

It's not that Zabuza's attacks were getting sloppy; it's just that Naruto's evasion of the attacks was that good. That is if you can call it good. Naruto's movements were so random it was hard to tell whether or not the masked blonde had any kind of physical balance. Let alone some kind of coordination. Naruto was bending and twisting in ways very hard to imagine, dodging the massive blade every time and coming up out of nowhere the next moment.

Naruto ran up a tree as Zabuza came up from behind trying to slash him in the back. Instead of hitting Naruto, Zabuza cut down the tree that the blonde ran up on. Landing behind Zabuza, Naruto smiled.

"Looks like I got you now." Naruto said with a grin.

The blonde unleashed a series of wild swings at Zabuza as he parried and dodged the attacks. Every single one of Naruto's attacks were so recklessly thrown that it was hard to imagine that Naruto had been taught the basics of kenjutsu.

"Damn this little bastard. How the hell is he doing this?! His moves are completely uncoordinated; he has absolutely no form of balance…" Zabuza stared at Naruto while the two paused for a moment. "…the way his arms and legs move, there is nothing practiced about it. It's like he can't stand still for a second. He makes far too much unnecessary movement. All of his attacks with his feet and kodachis are so recklessly used, he isn't even aiming at a vital point, and all he's doing is just trying to hit me in general. And how the hell is he doing handstands?! He has a weapon in both his hands!"

In the middle of Zabuza's thoughts, Naruto jumped into the air, his body rotating multiple times as he launched a series of kicks with both his feet. The first few kicks Zabuza blocked with his left arm. But once one of the kicks got through, the rest followed, Zabuza was struck multiple times in the face.

Zabuza stumbled on his feet as he lost balance from being kicked multiple times in the head and face. Landing back on his feet Naruto rushed the unbalanced nin and ducked down dodging Zabuza's blade as he attempted to prevent Naruto from coming closer. It was too late for that.

"Not bad for someone who's "playing ninja," huh?" Naruto asked with a smirk.

XXXXXXXXXX

"See this is why your sensei used his tanto instead of a kunai against the real me." The mizu bunshin said to Sasuke who was clutching his bleeding shoulder.

The Uchiha was losing a lot blood and now he was struggling to stay on his feet. His wound went from his shoulder down to his chest. It was a critical wound and it wouldn't be long until Sasuke would lose consciousness from the blood loss.

"Dammit…I gotta keep going…but this wound isn't making things any easier. I'm going to black out from all this blood I'm losing…but I have to destroy that bunshin…as much as I hate to admit it, I'm not going to let the dobe down…" Sasuke thought as he struggled to get back on his feet.

"You know you're only killing yourself faster by trying to stand up. Oh well you wanna die sooner and more painfully be my guest." The bunshin said getting ready to attack.

"I'm not dieing here…!" Sasuke was back on his feet and went through a series of seals.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!!" (Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)

Sasuke spat out a volley of fireballs at the bunshin, using his zanbato the bunshin blocked most of the fireballs and dodged the rest with ease. Not giving Sasuke another chance at attacking again, the bunshin rushed in while dodging the last of the fireballs and delivered a blow straight to Sasuke's wound. The Uchiha fell back in pain clutching his wound.

"Damn I ha…Aghhhh!!" Sasuke finished his sentence with a blood gurgling scream as the bunshin slammed his foot into Sasuke's shoulder, pushing him onto the ground and having his open wound stomped on.

"That was a nice little fireworks display but, it looks like it's time for me to go through with chopping off your little legs."

XXXXXXXXXX

Blood was dripping to the ground and the mist started to lighten up. Naruto held his position. The blonde continued to smirk behind his mask. Naruto's right hand was being held in a tight grip by Zabuza, the tip of the blade in Naruto's hand was somewhat pointed away from the former Kiri nins shoulder.

"That little bastard…" Zabuza thought to himself as he took a quick glance to see Naruto's other blade wedged in his thigh.

Zabuza was able to use his open left hand to hold back Naruto's right hand. However with his right hand holding onto his zanbato, Naruto's left hand made its mark. The kodachi was now piercing Zabuza's thigh.

Not waiting another moment Naruto quickly pulled his kodachi out of Zabuza's thigh. Naruto sent forward a kick to Zabuza's stomach with his left foot. The impact knocked back Zabuza forcing him to let go of Naruto's wrist.

Naruto charged in after the staggering Zabuza, once more taking the nin head on with his random and uncoordinated fighting style. It was proving harder for Zabuza to stay ahead of the blonde now that one his legs were starting to become a handicap. Naruto jumped into the air once more ready to deliver another overhead strike. Zabuza jumped back dodging the attack. Naruto's blades were planted in the ground, it was only a moment but Naruto's entire body accepts for his hands were in the air.

Swinging his legs forward, Naruto struck Zabuza with downward hook kicks using both his feet. The attack caused Naruto to do a flip. Back on his feet Naruto sent out a high-kick with his right foot to a recovering Zabuza. Pulling his leg back Naruto then used the kodachi in his left hand and slashed Zabuza across his chest.

Not bothering to check his own wound Zabuza sent out multiple slashes at Naruto once more trying to hit him. "Damn this little bastard, can't believe he's actually gotten this many hits on me…let's see how he fares with impaired vision."

Zabuza gripped his blade with both hands and brought down the zanbato on Naruto. However the tip of the weapon stopped short of Naruto, instead it buried into the ground. Zabuza pushed forward and forcefully pulled zanbato from the ground. A cloud of debris was forced into the air and into Naruto's face.

"Shit!" Naruto said as he closed his eyes for a spilt second, due to the dirt and rock fragments that were propelled into his face.

"Gotcha!" Zabuza said charging in, he swung his blade and the massive blade cut across Naruto's chest.

"Aghh!!" Naruto screamed as the blood sprayed out his wound. Naruto fell on his back, before he could do anything Zabuza came in.

"Now you die!!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Now off with your little legs!" The bunshin said as he readied his blade.

FSSSS!

The bunshin heard a small fizzing sound and saw a tiny smoke trail coming from his left arm warmer. Sasuke smiled through the pain he was experiencing. The source of the small bits of smoke was coming from a couple of small pouches that had tiny eyes drawn on them; the pouches were dangling from a hook and string.

"You got to be ki…"

BOOOM!!

The pouches blew up in a brilliant flash. For a normal person the blast would have severely burned and propelled the person back. For a mizu bunshin, the clone was blasted back into water. Sasuke was now drenched, the dark haired genin was now clutching his wound.

"Damn…sorry…dobe, doesn't…look like I can…finish my part…" Sasuke slipped into unconsciousness from the blood loss.

XXXXXXXXXX

Rin sped through the forest searching for Team 7 and their client. Suddenly Rin found herself running through a mist.

"Where the hell did this come from?" Rin asked herself.

BOOOM!!

Rin heard the sound of an explosion. She checked out the source of the explosion to find a dark-haired genin who she recognized as Sasuke Uchiha, wounded and covered in water. Rin then saw the nearby lake where Kakashi was being held by Zabuza's mizu bunshin. The female ANBU immediately recognized the jutsu that was holding Kakashi prisoner.

"Shit that idiot had better not have suffocated already." Rin said as she went in.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Naruto! Sasuke!" Kakashi shouted from inside his prison.

"Damn it! I need to get out of here, just one more bunshin." Kakashi thought as he fought back the urge to choke out coughing. He wasn't going to be able to hold his breath much longer.

"You really shouldn't be so shocked Kakashi, they were asking for…" The bunshin abruptly stopped his sentence as he used his unoccupied hand to catch a kunai. "What the hel…" Less than a second after catching the kunai an additional barrage of kunai skewered the bunshin.

Altogether the bunshin and the water prison collapsed. Kakashi fell into the lake, before he could sink down an arm grabbed Kakashi. The masked nin was helped to his feet while he caught his breath. Kakashi looked to see the person helping him up was an ANBU, he immediately recognized the mask the ANBU wore.

"Rin?" Kakashi asked outloud.

"Yeah it's me, before you ask why I'm h…"

"Rin go check on Sasuke now! I need to help Naruto!" Kakashi ordered as he focused chakra into his feet.

XXXXXXXXXX

Time seemed to have slowed down for Naruto and Zabuza. The blade was coming down and Naruto's eyes started to change colors. Suddenly a white light appeared between both of them. Zabuza's blade was stopped, and Naruto's eyes returned to normal realizing that he wasn't in danger anymore.

"This fight was between me and you, let's try and keep it that way." Kakashi said to Zabuza while holding the massive blade back with his own tanto.

"Naruto, your plan was reckless. But you and Sasuke both did well." Kakashi said reassuringly.

"How did you…?" Zabuza paused for a moment as the memories of his destroyed mizu bunshins came in.

"So you had backup?" Zabuza asked Kakashi.

"It was unexpected…now then, times to end this fight." Kakashi started charging chakra into his tanto. The blade of the weapon started to glow brighter; soon there was an almost blinding light.

"Shiro Kiba Sutoraiku!" (White Fang Strike)

In a flash of white light a beam of white chakra struck Zabuza's zanbato, propelling the nin into the air. Landing on his feet Zabuza skidded across the nearby lake. Kakashi gave chase.

"Looks like there wasn't a need for furballs chakra, phew." Naruto said in relief.

Naruto tried to get up on his feet until Rin appeared next to him carrying Sasuke in tow. Tazuna and Sakura made their way over to the others. Rin proceeded to check Naruto's wound.

"Stay down Naruto-kun, don't worry about the fight. Kakashi-kun has it handled." The group watched as Kakashi was about to face off against Zabuza once more.

XXXXXXXXXX

Zabuza quickly went through a series of seals, Kakashi before even recognizing what the jutsu was, was already performing the same seals.

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"

"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" Both Kakashi and Zabuza shouted at the same time. Two massive water dragons emerged from the lake. The bodies of water collided with each other.

BOOOM!!

The resulting collision erupted into a massive explosion of water. Everyone and everything nearby was drenched by the blasted water.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Just like last time, Kakashi-sensei went through a chain of seals in only mere seconds. I can only wonder how Kakashi knew that Zabuza would use that same jutsu." Naruto thought.

"_Power of the Sharingan, watch closely son."_

XXXXXXXXXX

Zabuza and Kakashi clashed blades once more in the middle of the water splash. Both nins jumped back. Zabuza ran to side and noticed Kakashi take off in the opposite direction at the same time, almost mirroring movements. Zabuza stopped and began to go through another set of seals. Kakashi copied Zabuza move for move as he did the same seals.

"Great these bastards sure love pissing me off. If it isn't the blonde gaki's unpredictable fighting style, then it has to be this monkey bastard copying my moves. It's like he's completely…"

"…Reading them." Kakashi said out loud finishing Zabuza's thought.

"What?! Did he read my mind?!" Zabuza thought somewhat panicked.

"Damn him and that…"

"…Freaky eye." Kakashi said out loud once more finishing Zabuza's thought for him.

"Ha! All you're doing is copying me…" Zabuza said in anger and irritation.

"You can't beat me you monkey bastard!"

"You can't beat me you monkey bastard!" Zabuza and Kakashi said at the exact same time.

""Damn you! I'll make sure you never open that damn mouth again!!" Zabuza went through another set of seals but suddenly stopped.

"Is that…me?!" Zabuza said as he saw a ghostly image of himself standing behind Kakashi.

"Is this some kind of genjutsu?" Zabuza thought.

"Suiton: Daibakuru no Jutsu!" (Water Release: Grand Waterfall Technique)

A massive force of water erupted from the lake, consuming Zabuza. The resulting attack flooded everything nearby. Zabuza was violently thrown against a tree as the force of water tore through the forest.

"How is it that I can't keep up with a jutsu I was going to use?!" Zabuza struggled to ask; suddenly his arms and thighs were pierced by kunais.

"It's over." Kakashi said standing on the tree branch above Zabuza.

"How? Can you see into the future?" Zabuza asked as he struggled to remain standing.

"Yeah I can see into the future, and right now I can see that you're going to die." Kakashi said as readied his tanto.

"Damn you Kakas…" Zabuza wasn't able to finish his sentence as a pair of senbon penetrated his neck.

"Your prediction of the future was correct, he is dead." A masked nin with long black hair said to Kakashi.

Kakashi used a shunshin to appear right next to Zabuza, the jounin quickly checked Zabuza for a pulse. "Looks like he's dead."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Who is that?" Sakura asked out loud.

"That's a Hunter-nin, from Kiri judging by the symbol on the mask." Rin said to Sakura.

"Jeez, that's some timing. Show up after the teme and I get our asses handed to us." Naruto said to everyone, intending for the Hunter-nin to hear as well.

"_You're right son that is some timing and what a strange weapon of choice." _Minato said.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Thank you very much; I've been searching for this one for a while now."

"This Hunter-nin, judging from his voice and height, he shouldn't be any older than Naruto." Kakashi thought as he stared at the Hinter-nin.

"This kid isn't normal…" Kakashi concluded.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I can't believe a kid around my age killed Zabuza…" Naruto thought angrily.

"_Son keep in mind that there will always be someone stronger than you. That is one of the drives that make people want to better themselves." _

"I guess this is one of those many obstacles to being Hokage, huh dad?" Naruto asked his father.

"_Yeah among other things."_

XXXXXXXXXX

"This body has quite a sum of sensitive information. I'll be on my way now; this body needs to be disposed of. Once more thank you and farewell." The Hunter-nin kindly said as he picked up Zabuza's body and shunshined out of the area.

"Man this has been a long day." Kakashi said as he lowered his hitai-ate to cover up his left eye. Kakashi then sheathed his tanto and turned around to face everyone.

"Now then Rin-chan, soon as you patch up Sasuke and Naruto we should get Tazuna-san back to his home." Kakashi said as he started to walk over to the others, the masked nin suddenly felt his own body become heavy.

"Hahaha!! Super thanks everyone, you can all stay at my…huh?!" Taazuna stopped talking as he saw Kakashi moving strangely.

THUMP!!

"Kakashi!!" Rin screamed out as she made her way to him.

"Great, I guess I used the Sharingan too much. And the "Shiro Kiba Sutoraiku" was a bit of a drain too." Kakashi thought before he was completely unconscious.

XXXXXXXXXX

In a home surrounded by water, Kakashi lay in a futon asleep. The jounin started to stir in his sleep. Kakashi looked at his surroundings. He then saw Rin by his side.

"How long have I been out?" Kakashi asked surprising Rin.

"You've been out for a couple hours now. Luckily you didn't exhaust yourself too badly, compared to the other times…" Rin said, she then leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Kakashi's neck.

"…but that still doesn't mean I'm not going to be worried, baka." Rin tightened her hold Kakashi, the jounin managed to raise his arm and drape it over Rin's back, trying to comfort her.

"Aww, now ain't that cute?" Naruto asked out loud smiling behind his scarf/mask, the blonde at the moment was shirtless and had a set of bandages wrapped around his chest. Next to him was Sakura and behind them was an attractive young woman with long black hair and Tazuna lying on his back on the floor, nearby was an unconscious Sasuke who also had a set of bandages wrapped around his chest.

"I agree that is quit cute." The woman said as she smiled warmly at the couple.

"And you are?" Kakashi asked while Rin let go of him.

"This is Tsunami-san, she is Tazuna's daughter." Rin said as she quickly swiped away a small teardrop, barely anyone noticed accept for Kakashi.

"You know Rin-chan we've been together for quit sometime now and we both know the everyday dangers we have to face. So please you don't get so worked over me, especially since I didn't get hit with anything serious and my exhaustion from the Sharingan is expected." Kakashi said while still lying down.

"You're right I shouldn't be so worked up…" Rin said as she stared and smiled lovingly at Kakashi. "…and your injuries weren't that bad, especially compared to Naruto and Sasuke's injuries…" Suddenly Rin's loving stare and smile disappeared. "…for now."

"Ano Rin-ch…"

BAM!!

Everybody's eyes widened and their jaws dropped as Rin punched her lover in the face.

"Kakashi! How could you take things so lightly, you ended up getting captured by the enemy and Naruto and Sasuke ended up getting near fatal injuries trying to rescue you…" Rin continued her rant while everyone stared in shock and amazement, while this was going on Sasuke who was lying nearby started to wake up, Sakura noticed this and immediately rushed over and threw her arms around the Uchiha.

"Sasuke-kun! I'm so glad you're alright!" Sasuke had a slightly annoyed look on his face, though not as annoyed as the other times, surprisingly.

"I'm fine Sakura, please let go, you might open up my wound." Sasuke said.

"Oh okay…" Sakura said as she blushed.

"**Cha! Take that Ino-pig I got to hug Sasuke-kun before you!" **Inner Sakura screamed out.

Naruto stared at the brief interaction. "Would you look at that, a while back I would have given anything for a hug from Sakura…but that was before I realized that her heart belonged to Sasuke, whether he liked or not." Naruto thought.

"_**So does that mean your feelings for the pink-haired tart are gone?" **_Kyuubi asked Naruto.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow out of curiosity. "Not that it's any of your business, but it's not like I don't care about her anymore. I can't hate her, but I know she wouldn't love me and even if she did now I wouldn't accept her feelings. I just don't feel that way for her now."

"_So there is hope for my son and the women who want his heart." _Minato quietly said.

XXXXXXXXXX

After everything had calmed down, Sakura had asked about the Hunter-nin that took off with Zabuza's body. Kakashi and Rin explained the details of what a Hunter-nins job was exactly. Kakashi mentioned the reasons for body disposal in the event an important nin being killed. Rin explained the details on how to dispose of said bodies.

"So that means Zabuza has been chopped up and disposed of? Scary…" Sakura visibly shivered at the mental image.

"Hey dad, did the Namikaze clan have to do this sort of thing? You know being apart of the "black sheep" and all." Naruto asked his father.

"_Yes all Namikaze's were trained in the art of body disposal, among other things. Strangely though any Hunter-nin knows that once in possession of a missing-nins body, disposal is priority, so taking care of the body right on the spot is required. Wait a minute…the timing and the weapon used on Zabuza. Naruto listen up…" _

XXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi was about to get settled back down on the futon and was about to yank Rin down with him, when Naruto spoke out loud.

"Kakashi-sensei, Rin-chan something isn't right about that Hunter-nin. The timing was just too much of a coincidence, also Hunter-nins are supposed to dispose bodies right on the spot. If he needed proof his kill, he would have just cut off the head. And the weapons used to kill Zabuza…"

Like a signal for the start of a race, most of everybody immediately understood what Naruto was saying. The first one to respond was Sasuke.

"Dobe you have got to be kidding me." Sasuke asked in a cold and skeptical manner but was obviously shaken by Naruto's theory.

"Wait you can't mean he's still alive, Kakashi-sensei checked him, he was dead." Sakura said in disbelief.

"Naruto has a point. One of the things Hunter-nins are taught is body disposal is priority. But because the nin took off with the body we don't know how he disposed of Zabuza or even disposed of him at all." Kakashi said.

"Also unless senbon's hit a vital organ, they have a low killing rate. It's an item that is normally used by medical doctors for acupuncture therapy. Hunter-nin's have a very extensive knowledge on human anatomy, most Hunter-nins in some instances know more than most medic-nins. It would be easy for them to induce a temporary dead state." Rin added to what Kakashi mentioned.

"Whoa, don't you guys think you're jumping to conclusions rather quickly. I mean this is all just theory, you guys could be wrong you know." Tazuna said protesting the possibility.

"As much as I would like to scoff this off as paranoid speculation, I'm not taking any chances. Besides even "if" Zabuza is dead, what are the odds Gatou hasn't already hired more powerful shinobi. We are going to need to prepare for any upcoming surprises. And now that Rin-chan is here that shouldn't be a problem." Kakashi gave Rin an eye-smile.

"It looks like we'll be running into Zabuza again." Naruto thought.

"_Almost sounds like you're glad he's still alive son." _

XXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in the middle of a forest in an unknown area a Hunter-nin opened his leather pouch. Inside were various sharp tools and medical cutting tools. The Hunter-nin grabbed a pair of scissors and looked at the body lying before him.

"First I'll need to cut the mouth cloth…" The Hunter-nin brought his tool closer to Zabuza's face.

"That's quite alright Haku; I'll take it off myself." Zabuza said as he grabbed a hold of the Hunter-nin's arm and pulled off some of his own cloth, showing off his shark like teeth.

Oh, so you're back already." Haku said.

"Damn…" Zabuza paused as he felt one of the senbon sticking out his neck. "You sure are rough." Zabuza yanked one of the needles out of his neck.

"Oh you shouldn't do that; you really will die if pulling them out like that." Haku said in a slightly panicked tone.

"How long are you going to wear that stupid mask?" Zabuza asked out loud.

"Sorry it reminds me of the old days…" Haku took off the mask. "Plus it was useful for the act." Once the mask was removed the face of a beautiful young woman was revealed.

"If I hadn't come when I did you would have died." Haku said while Zabuza pulled the other needle out.

"If you really wanted to save me you could have stopped that ANBU from destroying my last bunshin." Zabuza said in an agitated tone.

"But you said to interfere in your fight unless I had to." Haku said in an innocent tone, Zabuza grunted.

"Annoying as usual, I said not to interfere in the fight I didn't say anything about dealing with outside interferences. Not to mention did you have to go after my neck?" Zabuza asked.

"Now why would I want to scar you, besides the neck doesn't have much muscle, it's a lot easier to hit the acupuncture point." Haku smiled.

"Anyway you won't be able to move for a week maybe less than that."

"Che that will have to do then, next time I'll defeat the Sharingan."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Kakashi-sensei if you're planning on training us I can only assume it's going to be chakra training." Naruto said to Kakashi.

"Yes you're right…" Kakashi responded to Naruto.

"Well you already know that I'm familiarized with the training, so it's one less person to worry about. You and Rin-chan can focus more on Sasuke and Sakura, and you can add a little more to their training regiment." Kakashi cocked a curious eye brow.

"What do you have in mind Naruto-kun?"

"Sakura probably has good chakra control compared to Sasuke and I. Rin-chan can teach her some medical jutsus. Sasuke-teme is going to need a weapon he can use to take on the enemy when jutsus and taijutsu isn't enough and when he needs something better than a kunai or shuriken." Naruto pulled out a sealing scroll and unsealed a sword.

Naruto tossed it to Sasuke who reluctantly caught it. Sasuke unsheathed the weapon. It was a standard Ninjato. The blade was straight and of a medium length shorter than a katana. It had a square shaped tsuba and the blade showed that although it was a normal sword issued to most shinobi, showed that it was well crafted and would be reliable.

"Dobe I don't need this." Sasuke said.

"Yeah sure, I don't know how you got that wound but I can only assume it was caused by that massive zanbato." Sasuke clenched his teeth in anger as he remembered how he ended getting wounded. The Uchiha didn't say anything instead he just sheathed his new weapon.

"So you want me to teach Sasuke kenjutsu?" Kakashi asked Naruto.

"Well not necessarily, I mean you're out of commission for a while anyway. I can use my kage bunshins to teach him the basics. You can help him understand the disciplines too. But I'm not supposed to teach others "my fighting style," and it's not like it's something you can learn easily." Naruto said.

"Well this does sound like a good idea but what about you?" Kakashi asked.

"If you don't mind I got my own plans for training."

"I suppose that will do since you already have the exercise in mind mastered. Alright then it's settled."

During the discussion on the training course a little boy wearing a shirt, green overalls, and a khaki hat came into the house.

"Ohh!! Inari! Where were you?!" Tazuna excitedly asked as the boy named Inari took off his sandals.

"Welcome back grandpa." Inari said as his grandfather hugged him.

"Inari say hello to these people, they're the ones who protected your grandpa." Inari only glared at Team 7.

"Mom these guys are gonna die." Inari said bluntly.

"Care to run that by me again brat." Naruto said in a threatening tone to Inari.

"There's no way anyone can stand up to Gatou." Inari said without hesitation.

"Looks I'll just have to prove you wrong, after all I am the future Hokage." Naruto said calmly to Inari.

"What are you stupid, stop acting like you're some kind of hero, there's no such thing as heroes, just idiots who die in vain." Inari said with venom.

"If you don't want to die just leave here and don't come back." Inari said as he went upstairs to his room.

"That little punk ass…"

"Sorry…" Tazuna apologized to Naruto before he could finish his insult. Naruto only nodded and made his way up the stairs ignoring Sakuras pleads to stop.

"_You're not actually going to hurt the kid are you?" _Minato asked.

"_**Oh come on Yondy, if your son wants to beat the little snot let him. Besides it's not like he listened to you last time."**_

"Shut the fuck up furball. Besides I'm not going to hurt him…well depends." Naruto said.

Naruto got to the door at the end of the hall. He was about to pull the door open when he heard a small noise. It didn't take long for Naruto to realize that it was the sound of crying.

"sniff…dad…sniff…" Inari said as he cried over the framed picture of a man.

Naruto turned around and made his back downstairs.

XXXXXXXXXX

Outside in the surrounding forest some distance away from Tazuna's home was Team 7 and Rin. Kakashi was on crutches and was explaining the importance of good chakra control. Everyone understood the need for better chakra control for better use of jutsus.

"Now although Naruto-kun here has horrendous chakra control…" Kakashi motioned to Naruto who frowned underneath his mask. "…he has demonstrated that he can perform the exercise that you two will need to practice, Naruto if you may…"

Naruto casually walked up to a tree and started walking up the side of it with relative ease. Sasuke and Sakura were both surprised to see that Naruto could walk up a tree and that he had already mastered a technique that they were about to learn.

"I hate to admit it but it looks like training with Sandaime-sama actually paid off for the dobe, I can't believe I got to play catch up with him." Sasuke thought.

"Wow, I guess Naruto isn't as big of a loser as he made himself out to be. But that still doesn't mean he's better than Sasuke-kun." Sakura thought.

"**Cha! That's right so what if he knows one thing Sasuke-kun doesn't know. He's still isn't better than him!!" **Inner Sakura added.

"Now then the sooner you two master the exercise the sooner we can go further into the training." Kakashi added.

"Kakashi-sensei if you don't mind, I'm going to head over to the clearing and attend to my own training. Let me know when Sasuke-teme masters the tree climbing exercise." Kakashi only nodded as Naruto made his way out.

"Why does the dobe get to do his training on his own?" Sasuke asked.

"I thought this was already apparent but Naruto has already mastered the exercise. And you can't go any further unless you master it as well." Kakashi said casually to Sasuke who was starting to fume.

"You're pissed now Sasuke but keep in mind that Naruto was the one to propose you having extra training. I'm surprised you don't remember that…" Kakashi turned to look at Naruto who was walking away. "You really have changed so much under your father's guidance."

Flashback

…few hours ago…

Rin led Sasuke and Sakura outside to the spot where they would train. Kakashi was on his crutches and Naruto was walking beside him.

"So Naruto-kun I can only assume that Minato-sensei was the one to tell you about Hunter-nins."

"Yeah I kinda figured my dad would know a thing or two about the subject and he came to the conclusion." Naruto said with a smile.

"Leave it to sensei to figure it out before anyone else. On another note Naruto, why did you suggest the extra training?" Kakashi asked.

"What? Aside from the obvious benefit of having a better team?" Naruto answered with a question.

"I thought you didn't like being on Team 7, you seemed to have made it abundantly clear on the first day."

"Well of course I don't like being in this team but I'm stuck here and I can't change a thing about it. All I can do is either be the asshole of the group and not cooperate with anyone and be as bad as or worse than Sasuke-teme. Or I can improve things and make the team better to be in." Naruto said as he walked ahead of Kakashi.

End of Flashback

"Well Naruto's changed; let's see if Sakura and Sasuke have the capacity for change." Kakashi thought.

AN: _Here's another chapter. Sorry for the delay, but you know how it is when you have a fun new video game. Oh incase anyone didn't realize it and I don't blame you since my skills in writing fight scenes are pretty crappy, but Naruto's fighting style is like Mugen's from __**Samurai Champloo**_(a freaking awesome series I might add). _Anyway I hope you all enjoy. Lates_


	9. Learning new things

AN: _Yo! Hello everybody, I'm glad you guys liked the fight. Personally I think it could've somehow been better. Anyway here's another chapter. _

Chapter 8: Learning new things

"Agghhhh!!" Sasuke screamed out as he got to the highest point he could reach on the tree and slashed it with his kunai.

The Uchiha landed back on his feet and then grunted. He stared at the tree and saw the numerous slashes on it. Sasuke then looked over to the tree Sakura was using and saw that there were a far smaller number of slashes. Reason being was Sakura traveled farther distances up the tree each time she went up, Sakura was already up the top long before Sasuke reached the halfway point. The Uchiha was getting pissed and impatient, he wanted to catch up to and surpass Naruto.

"Damn that dobe, I can't believe I'm thinking this…but I wish he was here. That bastard might actually have something helpful for me to use…can't believe I'm even considering asking that dobe for help…"

"Sasuke-kun, if you want I could give you a few pointers on the climbing exercise." Sakura offered to her crush.

Sasuke looked at Sakura coldly. "I don't need your help or anyone else's for that damn matter. This is a simple and menial task that I will have mastered." Sasuke said in frustration.

Sakura lowered her head and turned around. "Sorry Sasuke-kun I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm so stupid why did I have to go and upset Sasuke-kun like that, I only wanted to help, but then I only screwed things up." Sakura thought sadly.

Sasuke saw Sakura start to walk away. He knew he hurt her feelings, surprisingly he didn't mean to do it. Sure there were all the times where Sasuke had shot down any attempt Sakura made at asking him out, but the funny thing was he didn't tell her she didn't have a chance because he was trying to hurt her or anything. He was just telling her the truth, she had no chance and he didn't have an interest in her. Sure it came rather cold and offensive, but that was just how Sasuke told things, the "asshole way."

"Great, I snapped at her…" Sasuke thought with a sarcastic and slightly regrettable tone. "I know I'm going to regret this, besides she did offer to help me…as much I hate to admit this if I want to get that extra training I need to get to the top of that tree…"

"Hey Sakura…" The pink-haired genin turned around. "…look I didn't mean to snap at you…I'm just a little bit frustrated…" Sakura stared surprised about how open Sasuke was being. "…Basically I-I'm trying t-to…" Sasuke's face was almost literally wrenching in more pain than when he had received his wounds from Zabuza, Sasuke's facial expression made it look like he was very, very slowly committing seppuku with a rusted blade. "I'm sorry for getting upset at you."

XXXXXXXXXX

"AHHHHH!!" Naruto screamed out loud suddenly and curled up like a ball.

"_What is it son?!" _Minato asked in a panicked tone.

"I don't know dad, I just suddenly felt this almost demonic chill." Minato took a quick glance at Kyuubi.

"_**Hey don't look at me, I'm fire not ice." **_

"It felt like something extremely horrible just happened, like someone close to me being horribly and brutally murdered. Or something that wasn't ever supposed to happen, just happened." Naruto continued while still curled up like a ball.

"_I'm pretty sure it was nothing, though now that I think about it I did get goose bumps a moment ago." _Minato said checking his arm.

"_**Now that you mention it I did feel a strange tingle in my spine." **_

For a second Naruto, Minato, and Kyuubi looked around worried. Naruto eventually got out his curled up state and went back to training.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Man that was weird…I hope I don't get that feeling again." Naruto thought as he walked back to Tazuna's house. Naruto decided to stop by the training grounds and see Sasuke and Sakura's progress.

Naruto smiled at the progress of his teammates. On one tree which he could only assume was Sakura's had about five to six slashes caused by her kunai. It was obvious that she had finished reaching the very top in a small number of tries. Sasuke's tree on the other hand had various slashes and the spaces between each slash were very small. Even though there were more slashes it appeared to be that Sasuke was catching up.

"See Sasuke-kun all you had to do was just calm yourself and focus on the tree." Sakura said enthusiastically.

Naruto's jaw dropped to the ground. "NANI!? What the hell, the teme is getting pointers from Sakura-san. Damn…and I thought I made progress by getting the teme to work with me. Sakura giving him pointers that just plain old destroyed any progress I made and effectively wiped out any future efforts." Naruto thought pessimistically.

"_Well you know you weren't the only person or the first person to try and get Sasuke-san to be more…hmm…I suppose more cooperative, less anti-social…"_

"_**Less of a stuck up prick…**_

"I get the point. Well if this keeps up I'll be teaching him kenjutsu in no time. Man I hope Hayate-sensei doesn't get mad at me for doing this, I mean I'm not really qualified to be a teacher and my "style" really takes a detour from traditional or conventional sword fighting, even if it's supposed to be different and unique to me."

XXXXXXXXXX

The next day Sasuke had reached a point on the tree climbing exercise that seemed to show he was ready. Sasuke had surprised Naruto with a kunai from the top when everyone went to check on him. Afterwards Naruto and Kakashi began the kenjutsu lessons for Sasuke.

The day after Sakura had mastered the tree climbing exercise Rin immediately started training her in medical jutsus. Mainly Sakura was trained in using the "Shousen Jutsu" (Mystical Hand Technique). Aside from training, Rin and Sakura were assigned to watch over Tazuna while he went to work on the construction of the bridge.

During the time spent with Tazuna, Rin and Sakura saw firsthand the poverty that the streets of the village was in. The two kunoichi's were told that the condition of the streets weren't just limited to this village but throughout the entire country.

While Rin and Sakura were training and watching over Tazuna, Sasuke was getting his lessons in swordsmanship. Since Kakashi wasn't fully back in shape, Naruto was the one to show Sasuke the basics and stances to kenjutsu, while Kakashi handled teaching Sasuke the disciplines and principals behind it. It wasn't long before the dark haired genin picked up quickly on the bare essentials. Now Sasuke had to develop his own way to use his sword in a fight. And of course Naruto had the perfect solution for that.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Alrigh teme, since it looks like you've picked up on the essentials of kenjutsu it's time you develop your own style." Naruto said as he pulled out one his kodachi while his staff was strapped to his back.

"Developing your own style is very important; consider your blade a part of your own body, it is an extension of your very being. Your sword style is a part of your blade, so in part your style is also a part of your body. In a different manner your style is your individualism and the expression of your soul. The style you make is what separates you from everyone else." Naruto said with a voice that made him sound like an aged swordsman who had vast knowledge and many years of experience. Sasuke stared at Naruto for a few moments and blinked twice.

"Wow dobe…never thought you would say something that meaningful and philosophical." Sasuke said still surprised.

Naruto gave Sasuke a nervous eye smile. "Well it was of the few things Hayate-sensei could teach me that he could really go into detail with and believed it something that I had to learn." Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Well that is a good saying but don't think this makes me your student dobe." Sasuke said coldly.

"I wouldn't dream of it teme…now draw your sword." Naruto said.

Sasuke grunted and then drew his blade; his ninjato was strapped to his back. "So what are we going to do now dobe?"

"What do you think we spar, unless you want to develop your style in the heat of actual battle?"

"Whatever dobe, let's just get on with it." Sasuke said uncaringly, there was a slight hint of eagerness in his voice.

"Alright before we start, you should know that until you actually fully develop your own style I'm going to use the basics against you. Shouldn't be a problem anyway the difference in length between your ninjato and one of kodachi isn't that great."

"Dobe don't get cocky, just because you've been working on this longer than me doesn't mean you should hold back against me." Sasuke said somewhat taking offense to anything Naruto may have implied.

"Teme, I would never hold back in a fight against you. This is for your benefit and besides there is a little twist to this…" Naruto dashed forward, running past Sasuke.

Naruto headed towards the tallest tree he could find and jumped up. Naruto was now standing the body of the tree staring down at Sasuke.

"Consider this an addition to your tree climbing exercise. Let's see if you can spar with me while sticking to this tree." Naruto said smiling behind his mask.

"Che, dobe I told you not to get cocky…" Sasuke ran at the tree.

XXXXXXXXXX

Rin and Sakura were escorting Tazuna through town once again. Tazuna at the moment needed to find some replacement workers for the ones that had decided to take leave. The threat from Gatou was too much for some of the workers. Tazuna needed the replacements if he wanted any kind of chance at finishing the bridge in some kind of time frame.

While walking through the village streets Rin took a quick glance at Sakura. She knew about Sakura's crush on Sasuke. The medic-nin was reminded of herself when she looked at Sakura. At least partially, to say the least Sakura was an example of what could have happened to Rin had she met Kakashi before she became a chunnin, she would have been to more focused on love than duty.

"Tell me Sakura-chan, you really like Sasuke-san don't you?" Rin asked Sakura while they were trailing behind Tazuna.

"Of course I like Sasuke-kun, I love him he…" Rin listened to Sakura as she started to bring up her reasons for being in love with Sasuke.

"Wow, I guess that's how I had felt about Kakashi when I first met him…though I wasn't nearly as open about it." Rin thought.

"That's nice to hear Sakura-chan, but there is something you need to know. Love is important but you also need to remember your duties as a kunoichi." Rin said to Sakura.

"Now I'm not saying love is something that can be tossed aside either. You need to know when to do your duties. You have potential Sakura but instead of using that potential to it's fullest you fawn over Sasuke or lash out at Naruto. By doing that you keep yourself from being a better kunoichi and you make it hard for the team to work together." Rin said with content.

"I…" Sakura just looked away a little embarrassed of her self.

"To be blunt, if something were to happen to Sasuke and Naruto as well, what good would you be to them if you can't do anything about it?" Rin asked not really expecting an answer.

"What should I do then?" Sakura asked.

"Keep training, continue to better yourself. Become a better member of the team. Sasuke isn't the only one in the team you know." Rin said.

"You're right Rin-sensei." Rin smiled at her lover's student, it looked like things might just change for the better.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Sasuke had come into Tazuna's house with a torn up appearance. Both were dirty and had some small wounds. It was made aware to everyone that the two genin had spent most of the day sparing with one another.

"Oh boy it has been sometime since we ate with this many people." Tazuna said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

Kakashi, Rin, Sakura, and Tazuna all stared in awe at the amount of food Sasuke and Naruto were consuming. Both were wolfing down bread and soup like animals in the wild.

"More!"

"More!" Both Naruto and Sasuke said at the same time while holding out their bowls. The two glared at each other, obviously sparring with each other didn't ease any tensions. For a whole second Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other and then they both threw up at the same time.

Everybody had a sweat drop come down the side of their heads. "If you're going to throw up then stop eating!!" Sakura screamed out at her teammates.

"No…I have to eat…to keep my strength up." Sasuke said with a serious face.

"Yeah, I need to keep my strength up or else Sasuke-teme won't have his ass kicked around." Naruto said grinning; making it the first time in a long time any had seen Naruto's face with his foxy grin.

SMACK!!

Both Naruto and Sasuke were slapped upside the head, with their faces hitting the kitchen table.

"Coming from a medic-nin, it is healthy to have a balanced meal to make up for loss of strength, however throwing up your meal after eating it and still demanding more isn't healthy you idiots!" Rin screamed out at the two genin.

XXXXXXXXXX

After dinner everyone sat around the table enjoying some tea. Naruto rested his head on his folded arms. Sasuke stayed quiet like usual, Sakura was contently reading a scroll on medical jutsus. Rin and Kakashi were enjoying some public displays of affection. Tazuna was talking to Inari and Tsunami was washing the dishes.

Naruto noticed that the whole time Tazuna was talking to Inari, the boy took quick glances at a framed picture that had a section torn off. The picture showed a smiling Tazuna, Tsunami, and a slightly younger Inari that had a rope tied around the side of his head like a fisherman. Judging from torn section and a hand on Inari's head, it was obvious that someone close to the family was on that missing section.

"Tazuna-san was there someone on that torn section of that framed picture?" Naruto asked.

Suddenly Tsunami, Tazuna, and Inari had a grim look on their faces. It seemed like they were reminded of bad times and speaking of the picture was almost taboo.

"It's my husband…" Tsunami was the first to speak out of the silence.

"And…the man called the Hero of this city…" Tazuna added with a sad tone.

Inari got out of his seat and started walking out of the kitchen. Tsunami noticed and got worried.

"Inari where are you going?" Tsunami asked her son out of concern.

SLAM!!

Inari slammed the door behind him as he barged out. "Father, I have told you not to talk about that man in front of Inari!!" Tsunami left after her son also slamming the door behind her.

Tazuna looked at his daughter depressingly. "I guess I should explain a few things." Tazuna said with remorse.

"Who was that in the picture?" Kakashi asked this time.

"Inari…he had a father not related by blood. They were very close, like a real father and son…Inari would laugh a lot back then. But…" Tazuna started to tremble, his eyes watered with tears as the memories came back to him.

"…Inari changed since the incident with his father."

XXXXXXXXXX

Tazuna explained to everyone what had happened to Inari when he was little. How he met the man named Kaiza. Tazuna told them about how Inari and Kaiza became close, how Kaiza was accepted in the family. The nins were told of Kaiza's brave acts. Kaiza was considered the Hero of the city. But then Gatou came along and too crush the people and too make an example, Kaiza was executed by the crime lord.

Everyone had a saddened look on their faces. They realized Kaiza was very important to the people and especially Inari. And he was taken away from them.

"So that's why he was crying that day." Naruto thought as he got up off his feet and started to make his way out of the kitchen.

"Naruto where are you going?" Kakashi asked.

"What do you think Kakashi-sensei? To train…" Naruto replied.

"Naruto-kun you're already exhausted you shouldn't push yourself any more today." Rin expressed her concern.

"Sorry but I got something to prove to someone…" Naruto said out loud, before anyone could question Naruto, the blonde said out loud.

"I'm going to prove to Inari Heroes do exist!"

"He's just like his parents." Rin and Kakashi thought at the same time and sighed.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was early morning and the birds were chirping. Naruto had his back on the grass and was dead asleep. Nearby a beautiful young woman with long black hair wearing a pink kimono was picking herbs. She noticed Naruto on the ground asleep. The woman had a serious look in her face for a moment. She approached Naruto's sleeping form, her presence nearly undetectable.

"It's that genin who took on Zabuza-sama. I wonder what he's doing out here." The woman now identified as Haku thought.

Haku slowly reached forward, it looked as if she was about to put her hand on his throat. Instead she paused for a moment. "I wonder what he looks like underneath the mask." Haku thought.

The dark-haired woman reached for the scarf that Naruto wore like a mask. Barely touching the cloth, Naruto's eyes opened in an instant. In one fast motion Naruto had Haku's wrist in his grasp and a kunai to her throat. Naruto held the kunai for a whole second before he realized that it was just a woman and not an enemy.

"Oh shit! I'm so sorry!" Naruto blurted out as he let go of Haku's hand.

"That's alright there's no harm done." Haku said a little nervously to keep Naruto from suspecting anything.

"Looks like I misjudged him, if I was any less careful I might have found that kunai closer than I would have liked." Haku thought as she carefully put away a senbon she had grabbed by instinct, she had put the weapon back so carefully as to not alarm Naruto. She assumed the masked blonde wouldn't notice.

"Dad was that what I think it was?" Naruto asked his father.

"_Yes that is a senbon, stay quiet about it okay?" _Minato said to his son.

"So judging by how you almost killed me and your attire I can only assume you're a shinobi." Haku said pretending to sound a little rattled.

"Yes I'm a shinobi alright, my name is Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said excitedly, whether or not the blonde was pretending to be excited or actually was couldn't be told.

"My name is Haku." The young woman smiled making Naruto blush underneath his mask.

"So why are you out here so early in the morning Uzumaki-san?" Haku asked innocently.

"No need to be so formal, call me Naruto." Naruto said with an eye smile.

"Okay then Naruto-kun." Haku smiled.

"Well Haku-chan I was out here training the night before. I decided to take a break and I guess I ended up falling asleep." Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"I see, so you were training to get stronger. I don't see why, you look like you're plenty strong." Haku said smiling once more.

"_**You know if I didn't know better I'd think the woman was flirting with your son." **_Kyuubi said with a perverted smile.

"_Not the time for it…" _Minato frowned.

"As my father once told me, there will always be someone stronger than you." Naruto gave an eye smile. "So I figured the only way to deal with that predicament is too keep getting stronger."

"Is that the only reason you have to become stronger?" Haku asked with a serious look in her face.

"Huh?" Naruto said surprised by the sudden question. "Of course I have other reasons. I'm not just getting stronger for the sake of getting stronger. I'm also doing this so I can become the Kage of my village. So I can get the people of the village to acknowledge me and see me as who I am and not what they perceive me to be. And so that I can honor my father by protecting the village he loved so much."

"So that means you're doing this for someone precious to you?" Haku asked once more, Naruto stared at her for a moment not to sure how to respond. Haku suddenly had a nostalgic look on her face as she remembered her life on the streets and how horrible it had been growing up after losing her family. She then remembered Zabuza and how he picked her up off the streets.

"When someone has something to protect, that's when they can truly become strong." Haku said to Naruto.

The blonde thought about what she said and the memories came back. He remembered having almost no one growing up. He remembered all the pain and loneliness, the few people who did care about him growing up, Sarutobi and Iruka. There importance and value in his life served to remind Naruto of how he would do anything to protect them. He then remembered Ayame and Teuchi; they were no more or no less important than the latter. And then Naruto remembered the girl he called an angel. The only person in his age group that showed she cared. Naruto remembered how important she was to him, this served to further remind the blonde that he needed to see her again and fix the mistake he had made.

"Yeah I do have people who are very precious to me, people who I would go to hell and back for; there isn't anything I wouldn't do for them." Naruto said with pure determination.

"You truly are a strong individual; I can see that you will only become stronger from here on in." Haku said making the blonde smile underneath his mask and blush a little.

"Haku-chan do you have someone precious to you?" Naruto asked suddenly.

It was Haku's turn to remember those precious to her. Once more painful memories were brought to mind for Haku.

"I did have my parents they were very precious to me, but that all changed because of circumstances beyond my control. Now all I have is one precious person, he has done so much for me. And I would sacrifice everything for him." Haku said with determination as well.

"So that would be the reason why you saved Zabuza?" Naruto asked suddenly surprising Haku, as well as Minato and Kyuubi.

"_Naruto what the hell are you doing?!" _Minato screamed out at his son.

"Better to find out now then later, I'll only fight her if it comes to it." Naruto said calmly to his father.

"What do you mean?" Haku asked for a split second there was a falter in her act. No one would have noticed it, not even Naruto. Luckily with Minato watching and listening to the conversation it was like having an interrogator monitoring the entire conversation.

"I saw that senbon you had pulled out for a second, and what are the odds someone could be carrying around a senbon as a weapon. Also judging from your height and hair color you do match the physical description of that fake Hunter-nin." Naruto said with a tone that said, "You know I'm right."

"What are you goi…" Haku was about to ask trying to sound innocent once more.

Naruto pulled down his mask to show his face. Haku was surprised to see Naruto's face and the strange whisker like scars on his face. "I won't do anything unless you provoke me." Naruto said; with his mask down Haku could see that he wasn't going to pull off anything.

"Too think I could have avoided all of this too." Haku said reluctantly.

"So why do you do this for Zabuza? I know about what that man is capable of and what he has done. Why do you value him so much?" Naruto asked.

"Please do not speak of Zabuza-sama that way!" Haku said in anger surprising Naruto. "He is the only precious person I have. When I was younger my father and mother were the most precious to me. I was happy and so was my family. But then something was discovered about my heritage." Haku said grimly.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"My blood, the blood of my mother…" Haku remembered how she first discovered as a child, the ability to create and control ice. She remembered how her mother had panicked and told her never to use that power ever again.

"I possessed a Kekkei Genkai. In some countries and villages the power of a bloodline is looked upon as a valuable weapon. Because of that such abilities were utilized a lot in wars. Where I came from people feared bloodlines and blamed them for all misfortune and losses brought on by war. Anyone who carried a Kekkei Genkai was treated like monsters and only death awaited clans that carried this blood." Haku said with sadness in her voice.

"Before I knew it…it all happened so fast…" Haku remembered that faithful day, how it all nearly ended. "My father killed my mother when he found out and then he was going to kill me…" She remembered how her mother lay on the ground dead with a pool of blood around her. She remembered the tears in her father's eyes as he brought up his weapon. "…I used my Kekkei Genkai to kill my father… after that it was a life of loneliness, of being shunned and unwanted…" Tears started to form up in Haku's eyes. "…That was when Zabuza-sama found me. He adopted me, he knew I had a Kekkei Genkai but he accepted me and cherished me." Haku said with a smile and tears falling.

"You probably don't know what it's like to be all alone and hated for something you were born with. It was something I had to endure and the hell that Zabuza-sama rescued me from. That is why I would do anything for him; I would die for him if needed." Haku said with more tears falling.

"She's just like me…" Naruto thought as he walked over to Haku. Before she could say anything more Naruto gently wiped the tears from Haku's face and pulled her into a hug, Haku blushed a little.

"You don't know how wrong you are Haku-chan…" Naruto said gently not intending to offend Haku. "I know what it's like to be born with a terrible power, something beyond your own control." Haku looked into Naruto's eyes to see he wasn't lying about anything.

"I didn't have a Kekkei Genkai in me; I had a demon sealed inside of me at birth." Haku stared at Naruto as he let go of her. "Like I said my father loved our village very much. He was the Yondaime Hokage, and when Kyuubi no Yoko. The most powerful of the bijus attacked the night I was born, I lost my mother when she gave birth to me. And my father made the ultimate sacrifice to stop the fox demon. He lost his life to seal that terrible being into me." Naruto remembered his childhood and the pain he had to deal with.

"Growing up, I was looked at as a monster. No one acknowledged my existence, they didn't see a boy, and they saw the Kyuubi. Anyone who noticed me and didn't shun me, wanted me dead. But not everyone looked at me like that; there were a few who cared for me. They are the ones who I value above all." Naruto said to Haku, showing her he understood the pain.

"I see I'm sorry for thinking you wouldn't understand…" Haku said with sadness and regret.

"Don't worry about it. Not a lot of people know about this, as a matter fact it's an absolute law in my village for anyone who knows not to speak of it." Naruto said a little nervously.

"I can trust you enough not to tell anyone about this little secret of mine as I will not tell anyone else about meeting you." Naruto said as he pulled his mask back up.

"I will…but you know that we will meet each other once again. And a battle will surly ensue. If anything at all it will have to come down to you or me." Haku said with a little regret and sorrow.

"It would seem so but I would like to change those circumstances if given the chance." Naruto said with a smile.

"That would be nice, but I fear that won't happen. I can only hope we don't run into each other again. I really don't want to fight you." Haku said in a serious tone with a hint of regret.

Naruto was about to say something else but the sound of someone approaching was heard. When Naruto turned around he saw an irritated and impatient Sasuke approaching, by the time Naruto turned back to face Haku, she was already long gone.

"Hey dobe, what are you doing? We got some sparring to do." Sasuke asked in annoyance.

"Nothing that concerns you, so are you ready to get schooled again?" Naruto said in a cocky tone.

"Che, we'll see about that." Sasuke said as he jumped onto a tree and stuck to it with his feet.

XXXXXXXXXX

Back in Tazuna's home, Kakashi was performing pushups with his index finger with Tazuna and Sakura sitting on his back. Sakura was quietly studying another scroll, Tazuna decided to ask something had been on his mind for a while now.

"Tell me Kakashi-san, why are you still here when I lied to you about this mission?"

"To abandon your duty is not courageous. Below the courageous is nothing." Those are the words of the previous Hokage and a man I considered like a father to me." Kakashi said, careful not to say "Naruto's father."

"Well it looks like my body is back to normal." Kakashi thought.

XXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in an unknown location, Zabuza sat with an apple in his hand. With relative ease the nin crushed the apple into many small pieces.

"It looks like your almost all better." Haku said.

"Yeah, we should make our move soon Haku." Zabuza said looking forward to his next encounter with Kakashi.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was now nighttime and everyone waited patiently by the dinner table. The food was ready but everyone was waiting on two particular genins. When the sound of a door opening was heard, in came Naruto and Sasuke. Both were even more torn up and exhausted than the previous nights. It looked like both of them were frowning through their exhaustion since they had to support one another to stand and walk. As the two sat down Kakashi looked at Naruto. The blonde understood that his sensei wanted to know the results.

"The teme has his own style developed; he still needs plenty of more practice and some actual experience. But he should be able to hold his own and all our sparring further improved his tree walking abilities." Naruto said as he slumped onto the table.

"Good! Then that means you two can assist in protecting Tazuna tomorrow." Kakashi said happily.

"Well that is great to hear, it looks the bridge is almost done as well." Tazuna said to the nins with a exhausted smile.

While everyone else was discussing what to do the following day, Naruto was about to take a nap. Inari stared at Naruto, memories of his father came back and so did the pain. Tears started to form in Inari's eyes.

"What?" Naruto calmly asked Inari.

"Why do you guys bother to try so hard, no matter how hard you train, you're still no match for Gatou's men!!" Inari screamed at Naruto and the others.

"No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you work, when facing the strong, the weak will only end up getting killed!!"

"Whatever, I'm not like you." Naruto said calmly, his tone almost made it seem like he was dismissing the matter.

"I'd hate to be like you!! You don't know anything about this place. What the hell do you know about me?! I'm different from you, you're always clowning with that cheerful attitude or trying to act calm and cool, you don't know how hard life can be!!" Inari screamed at Naruto.

Something inside the blonde snapped. Minato had a grim look on his face; he knew this was going to upset Naruto. Kakashi and Rin had a feeling the same thing was about to happen.

"So it's okay to pose as the bleeding heart star of a tragedy and just cry your problems away?" Naruto asked with a calm voice that hid his barely controlled anger.

"Just keep on crying forever then you idiot!!" Naruto said pure anger.

Inari only stared in shock at Naruto for a moment before he took off. Naruto got off his seat.

"Naruto! You've said enough!!" Sakura screamed out at Naruto.

Naruto turned around, the anger in his eyes still showing. "Don't tell me when I've said enough." Naruto said with a low but very threatening voice. Sakura actually flinched a little from what Naruto said.

XXXXXXXXXX

Inari sat outside of his home staring into the water that surrounded the house. He was still crying, tears falling off his face.

"May I join you?" Kakashi asked surprising Inari, not answering the Kakashi; the nin just sat down next to the boy.

"Naruto didn't necessarily mean harm by what he said. His anger can get the better of him at times. Tazuna told us about your father." Kakashi said Inari had a shocked look on his face.

"Like you Naruto grew up without his father. He lost both his parents in one night, the night he was born. Growing up he had no real family and very few friends. He also had to go through certain hardships that I can't elaborate on…in truth Naruto has had a harder life than you." Kakashi said calmly.

"Like your father Kaiza, Naruto's father was also a hero of his village. And just like your father, Naruto's made some great sacrifices."

"In truth Naruto had given up on crying and complaining a very long time ago. And I have never once seen him do either as well. Naruto strives to be acknowledged and seen as who he really is. Naruto stays strong to honor his father. He knows what true strength is…Naruto may understand you better than anyone else."

"What?" Inari said shocked.

"Naruto doesn't seem to be able to not be concerned about you." Kakashi said with an eye-smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning everyone was ready to head off to the bridge construction site. Well everyone accept for Naruto, who turns out was far more exhausted than he had led everyone to believe. Having to help train Sasuke and then spend most of the nights and early mornings for personal training wore out Naruto. The blonde was out cold.

"Take of Naruto-kun for us okay?" Kakashi said a little playfully as everyone took off.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Is everything ready?" A short man with grayed hair dressed in a black business suit wearing sunglasses asked over a cell phone.

"Let's get going Haku." Zabuza said as he carelessly dropped the phone he was receiving Gatou on.

"Hey Zabuza, are you listening to me?!" Gatou screamed over the receiver.

XXXXXXXXXX

"AHHHHH!!" Naruto screamed out at the top of his lungs. "I over freaking slept!!"

Naruto got out the guest room on one foot while he was struggling to put on his geta sandals.

"Oh Naruto-kun, you're awake." Tsunami said.

"Dammit everyone left without me didn't they?!" Naruto yelled out as he finished putting on his sandals and started tying on his mask.

"Kakashi-san said that you should rest…" Before Tsunami could finish Naruto burst out of the house.

"I'm off!!" Naruto screamed out. "Oh shit before I forget…Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

POOF!

A bunshin formed from a burst of smoke, the clone looked at Naruto.

"Watch over Tsunami and Inari." Naruto said as he took off, the bunshin nodded and sat down outside near the house.

XXXXXXXXXX

"What the hell happened here?!" Tazuna screamed out.

Everybody stared in horror and shock at the site before them. All the construction workers were all beaten badly and were sprawled on the ground.

"Rin, Sakura check them!" Kakashi ordered as he and Sasuke took in their surroundings trying to find any threat. Suddenly a large mist began to encompass the entire construction site.

"Here they come!" Kakashi shouted.

Everyone formed a defensive perimeter around Tazuna. The mist became thicker and everyone's view was becoming distorted.

"Kakashi-sensei this is the…" Sakura was cut off.

"I know, it looks like our friend Zabuza is still alive after all." Everyone was tensing up and some were starting to tremble.

"Long time no see Kakashi. I see you're still with the brats…" Sasuke started to tremble more. "Aw, poor kid is shaking again."

The mist let up for a moment to reveal a dozen Mizu bunshins surrounding everyone. Sasuke suddenly started smiling.

"I'm not trembling from fear…" Sasuke reached for his ninjato. "…I'm trembling from excitement."

The Mizu bunshins charged in and in a flash the bunshins were cut back down to water as Sasuke stood there smiling the blade of his ninjato covered in water.

"So it looks like you've improved, not bad. It looks like a rival has appeared for you Haku." Zabuza said.

"It does indeed." Haku said calmly.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Inari can you help me with the dishes?" Tsunami called out to her son.

"In a minute, I need to go to the bathroom." Inari said as he opened the door to the bathroom.

Outside two men were approaching Tazuna's home. They had swords, one was wearing an eye-patch and another had on a beanie. The two men noticed Naruto's kage bunshin standing guard outside the home.

"Well looks like there's a gaki standing guard Zouri." The man with an eye-patch said.

"No matter Waraji, shouldn't be a problem to take care of." Zouri said to Waraji as he unsheathed his sword.

Before the kage bunshin could realize what was about to happen. Zouri and Waraji both rushed the bunshin and struck at the same time.

POOF!

The bunshin burst into smoke as the blades sliced into him. Both the men looked surprised but ignored it and proceeded to slice open a hole in the wall of Tazuna's home. Inside Tsuami turned around to see the two men come into the kitchen.

"Are you Tazuna's daughter? Sorry but you're coming with us." Zouri said with a sadistic smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was running as fast he could until suddenly the memory of his kage bunshin popped in. The memory showed the bunshin being destroyed in a surprise attack.

"Shit! Gatou must be going after Tsunami and Inari!" Naruto yelled out as he turned around headed back.

XXXXXXXXXX

Inari was in the bathroom washing his hands when he heard the sound of a scream. "Kyaaaa!!" Inari recognized the voice belonged to his mom. Running downstairs Inari saw two men standing in front of his mother brandishing swords.

"MOM!!" Inari screamed out.

"A kid?" Waraji said a little amused.

"Should we take him too?" Waraji asked.

"We only need one hostage." Zouri said calmly.

"Hostage?!" Inari thought frantically.

"Then does that mean I can get rid of the brat?" Waraji said menacingly reading his blade.

"Wait!" Tsunami screamed. "If you touch that child…I will bite my tongue and kill myself. You want a hostage right, just take me." Tsunami said in a desperate and pleading tone.

Inari stood there in shock, tears of fear filling his eyes.

"Damn…thank your mom kid. Let's go." Zouri said as he and Waraji took Tsunami out of the house.

"Mom…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…I'm a weak kid that can't protect you…" Inari said with more tears falling off his face.

"I don't want to die…I'm afraid…" Inari thought as he curled up.

"Just keep on crying forever then you idiot!!" Naruto's voice came back to mind for Inari.

Suddenly everything came flooding back in. What his father said, Kakashi and Naruto's words. Inari remembered the strength the Konoha nins showed and how much his mother, how much his family meant to him. He wasn't willing to lose another, not after his father.

Wiping away his tears Inari got on his feet. "Will I be strong enough, dad?" Inari asked himself.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Looking at your pretty skin makes me want to cut it up." Waraji said sadistically.

"Walk faster." Zouri said to Tsunami as the group walked away from the home.

"WAIT!!" Inari screamed at the two men holding his mother captive.

"It's that kid…" Waraji said annoyed.

"Get away from my mom!!" Inari screamed as he charged at the men.

"Inari!!" Tsunami screamed out her son's name.

SLICE!!

POOF!!  
The two men drew their swords and attacked. Instead of hitting Inari, they ended up cutting down a log.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu?!" Zouri said surprised.

"Sorry for being late." Naruto apologized as he untied a now unconscious Tsunami. Inari was by his side, on his feet shocked.

"Well, well, well if isn't one of those loser ninjas that Tazuna hired. I thought we killed you a few moments ago?" Zouri said.

"So are you idiots supposed to be Samurai?" Naruto asked with disgust as he turned around saw that Zouri and Waraji were getting ready to attack.

"Yeah what of it?" Waraji asked.

"Petty criminals don't deserve to carry a sword and pretend they have the title have of Samurai." Naruto said in a threatening manner and released some killing intent. The henchmen trembled for a moment.

"You little shit, let's see you talk when we cut out your tongue." Zouri said as he and Waraji charged in.

Naruto ran at the two and dove forward, standing on both his hands Naruto was momentarily in between both men. Naruto spread his legs and apart and spun on his hands swinging his legs like rotor blades. Both Zouri and Waraji were knocked back both barely staying balanced and trying not to fall into the surrounding water. Pushing off with his hands Naruto did a flip and landed on both his feet. The blonde used his left hand and grabbed a hold of his Bo staff that was strapped to his back and used his right hand and grabbed a hold of the bottom section of the staff.

Zouri and Waraji got back on balance and went in to attack Naruto from both the left and right sides. Waraji swung his blade first, the weapon coming at Naruto from behind. The blonde leaned forward to avoid being hit from the back. Zouri followed up as he swung his blade coming in from the front. Naruto pulled back and was leaning back dodging the second attack.

Standing up straight following their attacks, Naruto thrust his kodachis at the henchmen. There was a small blood spray as Naruto's left hand holding a kodachi in a reverse grip was now lodged in Zouri's back. Naruto's right hand holding the other blade held in a normal grip was now in Waraji's stomach.

"Like I said you guys don't deserve to carry swords and call yourselves Samurai…" Naruto quickly pulled the blades out. In one full motion spin Naruto sliced open Zouri and Waraji's throats with his kodachis. The two men fell to the ground dead as blood started to seep through the wood planks and fall into the water.

Inari stared in shock, even though it wasn't the first time he had seen someone killed. It was the first time he had seen someone so young kill with ruthless efficiency.

"Sorry you had to see that Inari…" Naruto apologized as he wiped his blades and sheathed them.

"Sorry about yesterday Inari, forget what I said. You're strong." Naruto said as he rubbed Inari's head ruffling his hair up.

Inari felt something inside of him, the young boy started to tear up and cry. Inari struggled to keep his tears back, frantically wiping them away.

"I decided I wasn't going to cry anymore…now you're going to make fun of me…" Inari said.

"What are you talking about? It's okay to cry when you're happy." Naruto said smiling; Inari could only shed some more tears.

"Well if they attacked here then it can only mean they're at the bridge as well." Naruto said as he started to leave. "I can count on you to take care of your mom, right?"

"Yeah…" Inari said as he wiped his last tears away.

"Man it sure is tough to be a hero." Naruto said grinning underneath his mask.

"It sure is!" Inari smiled at Naruto.

AN:_ There you guys go another chapter. Sorry if it seems like I rushed some of the scenes that was meant for character development. _


	10. Conclusion on the bridge

AN:_ Alright people the conclusion to the Nami no Kuni arc. Oh and just to let you know one of the questions you guys have been asking me will be answered in this chapter._

Chapter 9: Conclusion on the Bridge

"What?!" Sasuke said as Haku shunshined right in front of him.

The fake Hunter-nin had a senbon in hand. Haku struck, Sasuke used a kunai to block the needle before it could do any damage.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Sakura watch over Tazuna." Kakashi ordered.

"So how are we going to take this guy down?" Rin asked in a low whisper.

"Well you see…" Kakashi paused and gulped nervously.

"Not gonna happen, you're not telling me to stay out this Kakashi-kun. And besides I'm pretty sure you don't want to have to deal with the consequences." Rin said threateningly.

Kakashi once more made another nervous gulp and had a sweat drop come down the side of his head. "I wouldn't dream of it Rin-chan." Kakashi said with a nervous eye-smile as he remembered the last time he had upset Rin and as Kakashi would put it "couldn't enjoy certain pleasures of a man and woman relationship."

"Hahaha!!" Zabuza was laughing hard, he looked like he was about to fall over.

"What's so funny?" Kakashi asked while frowning behind his own mask.

"You gotta be kidding me! The great Copy Ninja Kakashi, son of the legendary Konoha no Shiroi Kiba is completely whipped!" Zabuza said out loud.

Kakashi had a vein pop out the side of his head and his right eye was twitching. "Okay can we get off the subject of my relationship status?" Kakashi said rather dejectedly.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I don't want to have to kill you, but you won't stand down will you?" Haku asked Sasuke.

"Don't be foolish." Sasuke smirked while still holding his kunai in place.

"I see, well you won't be able to keep up with my speed this time. Also you've given me two advantages." Haku said calmly.

"Two?" Sasuke asked.

"First is the water on the ground, second is your occupied arm."

"What the hell?!" Sasuke said as he saw Haku go through a series of seals one-handed.

"Sensatsu Suishou!" (Death by a Thousand Flying Water Needles)

The water that was accumulated on the ground suddenly shot into the air. The water quickly took the shape of small spikes. In a flash the spikes flew forward as Haku leaped out of the way.  
BOOM!

There was an explosion of water resulting from the attack. As Haku backed away she realized that Sasuke wasn't there anymore.

"Where did he…." Haku was cut off, a set of shuriken were thrown at her from above.

"Looks like those advantages didn't serve you very well." Sasuke said as he appeared behind Haku.

Sasuke swung his ninjato at Haku; the fake Hunter-nin brought up her senbon. The steel blade cut through the needle like paper. Haku barely stepped back in time to receive a small cut rather than losing an arm. Sasuke rushed forward and kicked Haku sending her flying back. Haku landed in a crouching position on her feet near Zabuza.

"This little brat was able to keep with Haku at that speed!" Zabuza thought surprised.

"Whew, it looks Sasuke completely mastered the Shunshin. And his attacks with the ninjato are pretty strong. It looks like that training was a success and to think it was only a week of training." Kakashi thought relieved.

"Zabuza you really shouldn't underestimate my team anymore. Sasuke is the villages Number One rookie, Sakura is the brightest in the village, and Naruto is the village's Number One hyperactive unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja." Kakashi smiled underneath his mask thinking about his team.

"Hehehehe…" Zabuza chuckled for a moment, the sight made some people a little unnerved.

"Haku do you realize at this rate we'll be driven back, I guess it's time for a little bit of "divide and conquer." Zabuza said out loud.

"Yes, that sounds good." Haku said calmly as she started to build up chakra and began forming seals.

The water on the ground started to accumulate once more. Only this time the sheer amount was higher. The water shot into the air, this time it forming into rectangular shapes instead of needles. The objects looked like mirrors.

"Makyou Hyoushou." (Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors)

Haku slowly stepped into the mirror; she suddenly appeared in one of the mirrors facing Sasuke.

"Damn it!" Kakashi said as he charged forward wanting to help Sasuke, Zabuza quickly jumped in front of the jounin.

"Hey your opponent is me." Zabuza said in a deadly tone.

Rin charged in taking advantage of the momentary distraction to try and get past Zabuza. However Zabuza wasn't going to let the medic-nin get past him. Zabuza went through a set of hand signs.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!!" (Water Release: Violent Water Wave)

Zabuza expelled a strong torrent of water; the jet stream collided with Rin and shot her back. Before Kakashi could yell out Rin's name, Zabuza drew his zanbato and swung at Kakashi.

"Shit!" Kakashi said as he barely brought up his tanto to block the zanbato. Kakashi was pushing back, the two nins held their positions, blades held in stalemate.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Now I can show you my real speed." Haku said while inside the mirror.

Before Sasuke could bring up his ninjato or even blink, a senbon flew by. Sasuke found his left arm sleeve was cut and a gash was opening underneath.

"Ahh!!" Sasuke screamed out, in one fleeting moment Sauske was hit with a barrage of senbons from all directions.

Sasuke fell flat on his stomach. He was cut all over and his blood was flowing out from his wounds.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Sasuke!!" Everyone had yelled out at the same time.

"You two aren't getting past me." Zabuza said brandishing his zanbato while standing in Kakashi and Rin's path.

"Damn, it looks like we'll have to take Zabuza down first, huh Rin-chan?" Kakashi said as he pulled his hitai-ate up, revealing his Sharingan eye.

"It looks like it." Rin said while dropping into her fighting stance.

"Don't think you'll when with two against one Kakashi." Zabuza said as the surrounding mist became increasingly thicker, even thicker than the last time Zabuza used the jutsu.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Great so much for learning how to use a damn sword, it isn't much use if I'm dealing with ranged attacks, if you can call them that." Sasuke thought as he struggled to get back on his feet and tightened the grip on his ninjato.

"Now that I showed you my real speed it's time to end this." Haku said as she readied another set of senbons to finish off Sasuke.

The needles were launched and it was too soon for Sasuke to be able to move fast enough to defend himself.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!" A familiar voice screamed out as a mass of clones appeared out of nowhere.

The bunshins acted as barriers blocking the barrage of senbons coming in. The small amount of senbons that did make it through was swatted aside by a black staff.

"Hey teme, I'm gone for a few moments and you get your ass kicked, what am I gonna do with you?" Naruto said as he gave Sasuke an eye-smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

"It looks like Sasuke's back-up has arrived." Kakashi said as he and Rin were back to back waiting Zabuza to make his move.

"Doesn't matter, both them are as good as dead." Zabuza said as he launched a set of shuriken at Kakashi and Rin

XXXXXXXXXX

"Shut up dobe, I'm only in this position because I had no choice but to learn from you, and look at how helpful it's been." Sasuke said sarcastically.

Naruto took a quick glance at Sasuke's wounds; it appeared to be that very few if any vital areas at all were struck by the senbons. "Haku-chan must be holding back." Naruto thought.

"I see that we must fight each other in the end, huh Naruto-kun?" Haku asked, barely letting a tiny bit of sadness slip through.

"I guess so." Naruto responded.

"Dobe do you know this person?" Sasuke asked surprised by the quick little conversation.

"Yeah I do know Haku, sorta." Naruto said.

"Yes…and you should remember that I will do what I have to, to serve my precious person. I don't want to have to kill you two, nor do I want to be killed. But for Zabuza-sama I will do whatever it takes." Haku said carefully masking her grief at the idea of having to kill Naruto.

"Sorry Haku, but the only people who are going to die on this bridge are the ones who deserve it." Naruto said with content.

Sasuke took the moment to pull out any senbons that were hindering his movements. Once he was done the Uchiha was back on his feet with his ninjato ready.

"So teme, you ready to go?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah I am and before you do anything stupid. We won't be able to fight this nin at close range. We're at a disadvantage already." Sasuke informed Naruto.

"That's right, fighting any further will only result in a faster death." Haku said before she unleashed more senbons.

Naruto and Sasuke quickly used their respective weapons to knock the senbons away. With the two genin back to back covering each other, Naruto and Sasuke were coming out of the attack mostly unharmed.

"If we can't fight Haku using close range attacks then we'll have to break those mirrors won't we?" Naruto asked.

"What do you have in mind?" Sasuke asked.

"I can only assume these mirrors are made of ice." Naruto gave Sasuke an eye smile.

"Good point, in that case…" Sasuke said as he sheathed his ninjato and started to go through a set of seals. Naruto did the same and readied up his own jutsu.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

"Katon: Dai Endan!"

In an instant a massive blaze of fire consumed the mirrors. The fire engulfed all the surrounding mirrors. The fire was bright enough for even the others nearby to see light through the thick mist. Naruto and Sasuke both smirked at the sight of the inferno…for a few moments…the smirks turned into full blown frowns.

When the fire dissipated, the mirrors showed some sign of melting. But the ice merely reformed and once more the mirrors surrounded Naruto and Sasuke.

"You're not going to be able to melt the ice with that level of fire." Haku said.

"Crap…" Naruto said before he and Sasuke were hit with another set of senbon.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi stared at Zabuza while holding his tanto. The jounin had just taken an attack from Zabuza right across the chest, receiving a wound very similar to what Naruto and Sasuke had gotten last time. Rin was beside him ready to defend Kakashi at any moment.

"Give it up Kakashi; you and your girlfriend don't have a chance. You're nothing without the help of your Sharingan." Zabuza taunted.

"Trust me; I can beat you without it. And since Rin-chan is here things are going to be a little easier for me." Kakashi said confidently.

"Don't get cocky with me Kakashi. You two are as good as dead and you're little brat genins are going to die by Haku's hands." Zabuza said threateningly.

"Didn't I already tell you not to underestimate my genin? Sasuke can't die and neither can Naruto. Sasuke is the last of his clan, he is an Uchiha."

"So he's an offspring of that tragic clan." Zabuza said partly amused and at the same time expressing some pity towards Sasuke.

"And Naruto is the Legacy of our villages greatest Shinobi." Kakashi said being careful not to say son rather than legacy.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Sasuke were panting; there bodies were covered in cuts. And a number of senbons were stuck in their bodies. Even though Sasuke had managed to awaken his Sharingan, his stamina and chakra was depleting.

"This isn't good. I wish I was fighting Zabuza right now. My kodachis are useless if I can't get near Haku. And my ranged jutsus are enough to break the mirrors and the teme doesn't have anything either. It looks I'm going to have to use it."

"_Are you sure about that son?" _

"Dad I know you have concerns about me using it. And Kami knows you had your objections to me learning it when we found out my elemental affinities…"

Flashback

…three months ago…

"Alright here goes nothing." Naruto said as he held the paper in his hand and concentrated.

For a long moment nothing happened. After a few more seconds the paper started too spilt down the middle slowly.

"Well it looks like your element is wind…?" Kakashi ended his sentence as a question when the paper stopped. The paper was only slightly cut down the middle, it wasn't even halfway down.

"Okay…this is strange…" Naruto said, suddenly one of the corners of the paper fizzed a little and the corner began to burn.

"_**I guess the kit has the same affinity as me…or maybe not." **_Kyuubi said as the burning stopped.

Naruto and Kakashi both stared the paper disappointedly. The paper was barely cut and it was barely burned. It looked like Naruto didn't have any full affinities.

"Well I guess it might have been a bit too soon for the affinity training, I guess we'll…" Before Kakashi could finish his sentence, a loud static like crackle was heard. Tiny bolts of electricity suddenly jumped off the paper. And before Naruto and Kakashi knew it, the paper violently crumbled into a ball. (I don't know if a piece of paper can be violently crumble into a ball.) A few more sparks of electricity shot out as Naruto and Kakashi stared slack jawed. Minato wasn't any better.

"_So much for my son having the same affinities as me…" _Minato said both in a disappointed and surprised tone.

"Hm, interesting you have minor affinities for wind and fire, given enough time and training you can develop them. But it seems you have a very strong affinity for lighting. Which is a rarity in these parts; I wonder how you got it." Kakashi said curiously.

"_I can only think of one reason why you have that affinity son." _Minato said nervously.

"And that would be?"

"_Let's just say that it seems your mother has had other influences on you besides your personality." _

"You mean?"

"_Your mother had two affinities, where she was from everyone had the affinity for water. But in her case, your mother's main element was lighting."_

"Okay so I got lighting from mom and wind from you, what about the fire?"

"_I can only assume it came from the furball. After all it was his chakra influence that gives you some of the physical traits you have now. Funny it's almost like your mother came back in spirit to beat me and leave her mark…" _Minato said. _"Well even in death your mother had to beat me somehow, she always did have to come out on top." _Minato fought back the urge to say "in more ways than one." As he remembered how Kushina's need to be ahead of Minato wasn't just limited sparring but also more in the "bedside manner."

"_**So Yondy, are you saying that your wife was on top of things in the marriage?" **_Kyuubi said with a perverted grin and giggle.

BAM!!

Kyuubi's grin was met with an elbow to the face. _"Shut up you damn fox, I wasn't implying that damn you." _Minato said with a slight blush.

"Well Naruto-kun, it seems to be you have a rather strong affinity for lighting judging by how that paper reacted. I have a very powerful jutsu in mind to teach you." Kakashi said with a smile.

Naruto grinned. "You're gonna teach me a powerful jutsu?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Yes I am it's my original jutsu. But I think your father may have a problem with it though." Kakashi said

"_The hell I'll have a problem that better not be the jutsu I it is." _Minato said in anger through Naruto.

End of Flashback

"Right now dad, I have to use it. With the furballs chakra concentrated to my eyes I should be able to negate some of the tunnel vision I'm about to get. Besides Kakashi-sensei taught me to use this as a blade to protect my comrades, I think right now would be the situation to use it." Naruto said to Minato.

"_Well there's no point in arguing, but I thought you said you had no intention of killing Haku?"_

"And I don't dad, just trust me and watch." Naruto said reassuringly.

Naruto started to channel the chakra that was released to his eyes. The blondes blue eyes became red with slits instead of irises. Sasuke didn't notice the change in eye color but he did feel the sudden spike of chakra.

"Hey teme, I got something planned. I'm going to force Haku out those mirrors. With your Sharingan, you better be ready to attack." Naruto said, before Sasuke could question what Naruto had planned. The blonde went through a set of seals.

When Naruto finished the blonde held his right arm. Suddenly a ball of pure white electricity materialized in Naruto's hand. The energy being generated in Naruto's hand was so intense that his glove was torn to shreds and the palm of his hand showed signs of being burned. The electricity crackled and a distinct noise was heard, it sounded like many birds chirping all at once.

"What the hell is that?! And how does the dobe know it?" Sasuke thought.

"It's time to end this Haku." Naruto said as he got ready.

"Whatever that jutsu is, it looks strong enough to break my mirrors. I've already used too much chakra to maintain this jutsu; if they break I'm in trouble. Sorry Naruto-kun, but I'm going to have to stop you." Haku was about to launch her attack. Before she could get even halfway near Naruto, the blonde disappeared.

"Chidori!!"(Thousand Birds) Naruto screamed out.

Suddenly one of the ice mirrors shattered, in place of the mirror was Naruto with his right hand thrust forward. Both Haku and Sasuke were surprised at the sight before them. Haku and Sasuke were surprised to see the sheer speed of Naruto's attack. Before Haku could do anything, Naruto in the blink of an eye ran in a circle with his Chidori. The attack destroyed all the lower mirrors. Naruto then leaped into the air and in a flash the remaining mirrors shattered one after another. With each mirror destroyed Haku was forced to jump into the next one, when the last set was destroyed Haku had jump out.

"I guess this is what he meant…" Sasuke thought as he locked onto Haku using his Sharingan. When Haku was forced to jump into her last mirror, Sasuke attacked. He affectively struck down Haku. Making a thud sound, Haku landed on her back, she tried to get back on her feet but found a blade pointed at her.

"It's over…" Sasuke said as he readied his ninjato, he moved his blade back ready to deliver the deathblow. Until suddenly a hand grabbed a hold of Sasuke's wrist preventing the Uchiha from executing his opponent.

"Dobe what the hell are you doing?" Sasuke asked with a puzzled and pissed off tone.

"Like I said, the only ones who will die on this bridge are the ones who deserve it." Naruto said as he let go of Sasuke's hand. Sasuke grunted as he sheathed his sword, the Uchiha wasn't in the mood to argue with Naruto.

Sasuke ended up nearly collapsing onto the ground. His injuries and physical exhaustion, added with near chakra depletion kicked in. Naruto turned to face Haku as she got back on her feet and removed her mask. The blonde tensed a little, he knew Haku already drained a good amount of her own chakra, but it's not like that is ever an effective deterrent.

"Please…Naruto-kun, kill me…" Haku said sadly.

"What! Why?!" Naruto asked.

"I lost; I'm no longer of any use to Zabuza-sama. I can't do anything for him now…I'm a broken tool…why would he need me now?" Haku asked as tears streamed her face.

"NO!! You're not useless Haku…" Naruto screamed out.

XXXXXXXXXX

"It looks like it's over Zabuza." Kakashi said.

"Screw you…" Zabuza said.

The former Kiri nin was kneeling in front of Kakashi right now. His right thigh had a large gash from Kakashi's tanto. But it's not like he could feel much of the pain from the wound. The reason for that and Zabuza being immobile was because he took a direct hit from Rin's "Ranshinshou" (Chaotic Mental Collision). An attack that involves changing the chakra in one's hand into electricity so that the opponent when struck would have their nervous system overloaded. And for Zabuza's case, the man was now unable to move and was now barely able to keep balance.

"No point in insulting me any further. You're as good as paralyzed, you can't fight anymore. And now you won't be alive for any second longer." Kakashi said as he took a quick glance around to see that the mist was clearing up. In the clearing Kakashi saw that the mirrors created earlier were destroyed.

Kakashi smiled. "Looks like Minato-sensei didn't have a problem with Naruto using the Chidori. I suppose I should follow suit." Kakashi thought as he went through set of seals similar to what Naruto used earlier.

"As I said last time Zabuza, my prediction for your future…is death." Kakashi's left hand lit up in the same manner as Naruto's hand, with a concentrated ball of electricity crackling violently. Only in Kakashi's case the electric energy was blue rather then white.

"A little while back you were felt honored to see my Sharingan when we fought as well as seeing the fang of my father. Well now you get to see my original jutsu…" Kakashi gripped his left arm and readied his attack. "Raikiri!!"(Lighting Blade)

XXXXXXXXXX

While Naruto tried to reason with Haku, the mist began to clear up. Sakura and Tazuna arrived, the pink haired kunoichi administering medical attention to Sasuke. A moment ago much to Naruto's surprise also wanted to check up on Naruto's wounds. The blonde told her to go work on Sasuke. Once the mist had cleared up enough Naruto could see that Kakashi readied up his Raikiri for attack. Before Naruto could comment on it, Haku went through a set of seals.

"It looks like I may still be of use to Zabuza-sama after all." Haku said as she disappeared in an ice mirror.

"Shit! Dad I'm gonna need a lot of furballs chakra now!" Naruto screamed out his mind.

XXXXXXXXXX

"There's enough chakra in his hand to be visible!" Zabuza said as he saw Kakashi's original jutsu.

Kakashi ran forward in blinding speed. He thrust his hand forward; out of nowhere a blur appeared in front of Zabuza. There was a splash of blood, Kakashi's eyes went wide and Rin gasped in shock.

Haku had appeared in front of Zabuza; however Naruto using the Kyuubi's chakra appeared a split second after Haku and pushed her out of the way. Using the Kyuubi's chakra as a sort of shield kept the Raikiri from tearing right through Naruto. However that didn't mean damage wasn't done. Naruto was kneeling on one knee wall clutching his right shoulder.

"_Naruto! That was reckless and stupid! What were you thinking?!" _Minato shouted to his son.

"Naruto why?" Kakashi asked in shock while Rin ran to Naruto to check his wound.

"Naruto-kun why did you do that?" Haku was just as shocked.

To answer everyone who had asked the same question Naruto said. "I couldn't let her die and I couldn't let Zabuza die either. Or else Haku would be sad…" Naruto said while his face wretched in pain.

"Saved by the student of my enemy…and for what, the benefit of a defective tool?"

"Don't call her that…" Naruto said threateningly.

"Damn I could take advantage of all of this and attack them all…but my body is nearly disabled." Zabuza thought.

"I hate to admit this but…this damn job is over. I'm not going to be able to do anything else about it. Unless I can get my legs working again and a kunai in my mouth, I can't hurt a damn thing. I should be dead, but that damn gaki saved me…jeez that Kakashi wasn't joking when he said that damn brat was the most surprising nin from Konoha. Because of him, Haku and I are alive…even though this job has ended miserably…I do have to admit that I'm glad that Haku is alright…of course there is no fucking way in hell I'll say that out loud!" Zabuza thought.

As the mist finally and completely cleared everyone saw a short man in a black business suit wearing sunglasses. Surrounding him was an army of bandits and all of them looked like they were ready to kill.

"Well, well...looks like you're getting your ass kicked Zabuza." The man said amused.

"What the hell are you doing here Gatou?" Zabuza asked in an irritated tone and thought, "Like my day couldn't have gotten any worse."

"Look Zabuza theirs been a change a plans. I wasn't going to pay you originally and turn you over to the Hunter-nins. Then again I realized that killing you would be a bigger reward and as a side bonus I can turn over those pretty little ladies to my men." Gatou smiled lecherously. Almost on instinct Kakashi stood in front of Rin with his tanto ready. A part of Zabuza wanted to do the same thing but his body was still disabled.

"Damn…this…bastard…" Naruto said in between breaths while struggling to stay conscious.

"_Don't worry about him son, I got a little bone to pick with a creep like him. You rest, I'll take over." _

As Naruto's consciousness slipped, red chakra enveloped his body. Everyone was surprised to see what was going on. From a distance Sasuke could see the glowing red light before he lost consciousness, Sakura could feel the sudden spike in power but she was too busy attending to Sasuke's wounds to check up on what the power spike was.

"What the hell is the brat doing?" Zabuza asked surprised by the visible red chakra that was now taking shape.

"If I knew I'd tell you, this is the first time I've seen it myself." Kakashi said reluctantly.

The chakra took on a fox like form with a single tail. But then the shape began to drastically change. Naruto's physical features were same as they were the last time his body used a larger amount of the Kyuubi's chakra. His eyes were red with slits, his whisker marks were wider and more defined, and his nails and teeth grew into claws and fangs.

As the shape of the chakra continued to change a yellow aura began to appear around Naruto. Now Naruto stood inside of a humanoid shaped aura that was filled with a combination of red chakra and some sort of yellow light. Behind the humanoid shape was a pure red chakra tail. Kakashi and Rin immediately recognized the shape of the chakra.

"It's Minato-sensei…" Kakashi said shocked at what was happening and Rin was speechless.

Zabuza and Haku were just as shocked. Zabuza heard what Kakashi said and felt he had heard that name before. Zabuza then remembered who Kakashi's sensei was and who the name belonged to.

"Konoha's Yondaime Hokage, the damn Kiiro Senkou!" Zabuza shouted.

"_So Kiri's bingo books included me too, I'm honored." _Minato said casually through Naruto.

"Sensei what are you doing here?" Rin asked once she snapped out of her shock.

"_Naruto wasn't going to able to stay conscious any longer. So I figured I'd say hi to a few people, shake some hands…" _Minato said sarcastically. _"Kill a criminal leader and free this country." _Minato ended with a dead serious tone as he looked at Gatou. The crime lord flinched and swallowed nervously at Naruto/Minato.

"Y-you c-can't possibly hope t-to k-kill me brat!" Gatou said scared for his life.

"_Trust me…in ten seconds you will be dead…" _Minato/Naruto said.

"W-what!? A-all of y-you kill him!!" Gatou screamed in a panicked tone.

Gatou's men started to gather in front of their employer to try and block Mianto/Naruto. However they didn't move fast enough. Almost disappearing in the blink of an eye Minato/Naruto was now standing in the middle of the group.

"_One…" _Minato/Naruto said as he knocked aside a group of bandits that charged in.

"_Two…" _Drawing out his staff, more of the men were struck down.

"_Three…"_ Unsheathing the twin kodachis, Minato/Naurto cut down multiple bandits.

"_Four…" _Gatou ran as far as his short legs could carry him, he was now at the end of the unfinished bridge. Behind him he heard a voice say, _"Five…"_

Minato/Naruto was now standing directly behind Gatou while a handful of bandits were on the ground bleeding and screaming pain. The rest of the thugs were too afraid to try anymore futile attempts on Minato/Naruto.

"W-wait, I-I can get you whatever y-you w-want! W-what do y-you want?! Money, women, n-name anything y-you want!" Gatou feverishly bargained for his life.  
_"Six…"_

"Please I beg of you!!" Gatou screamed out.

"_What do you know? I got a few seconds to spare…" _Minato/Naruto started to gather chakra to his left hand since the other hand was already burned from using the Chidori. A blue spiraling sphere started to form in the palm of Minato/Naruto's hand. Suddenly a red glow appeared in the center of the sphere. The chakra soon became purple; the energy was just as intense and unstable as the Chidori.

"_Rasengan!!"_(Spiral Sphere)Minato/Naruto shouted. The attack plunged into Gatou's chest. The attack was so intense that Gatou's upper torso was torn to bloody shreds; the former crime lord's remains littered the ocean below.

_Seven and eight…" _Minato/Naruto said as he turned around and walked back to where Kakashi and the others were.

"Sensei you can use the Rasengan through Naruto?" Kakashi asked in a low and surprised voice.

"_Yeah but Naruto's chakra control is still pretty horrendous. Just look at both his hands…" _Minato/Naruto said as he held up both hands to show the extensive burns that were healing.

"_Both hands suffered similar damage from using the Chidori and the Rasengan."_

"I know I'm your enemy and all, but do you mind explaining why the gaki has that aura or how he was able to use a super-charged version of an A-rank jutsu that only a few elite nins know of how to use?" Zabuza asked.

"_I'd like to explain…but I'm at my limit, looks like using "that" chakra shortened the amount of time I have control." _Minato/Naruto said as the chakra and yellow aura receded. The blonde was about to fall flat until Haku caught him.

"Thanks Haku-chan…" Naruto said in a tired and worn out voice.

"No Naruto-kun thank you for what you did." Haku said with a smile.

"Oh you gotta be freaking kidding me…no damn wonder Haku lost, she's got a crush on the blonde gaki. Aghhh!! Don't tell me I gotta have that talk about men and women now…" Zabuza thought grimly.

The bandits were in a state of shock after they all saw the rather violent death of their boss. However there were a few bandits who were actually angry rather than scared.

"Hey! That was our meal ticket!" One of the bandits yelled out.

"Who's gonna pay us now?!" Another added, the crowd started to get riled up.

"It looks like well just have to take anything of value from the village!"

"We'll pillage and kill everyone!!" The mass of bandits charged forward, they were ready to kill.

"_Oh great the beauty of mob mentality…"_ Minato said sarcastically.

"This is bad." Kakashi said.

"Any plans sensei?" Naruto asked as he got back on his feet, Haku beside him.

"Not really, Rin-chan and I have already exhausted ourselves fighting Zabuza. And Zabuza's taken quite a few wounds and his nervous system is still crashed. You, Haku, and Sasuke are in no condition to do anything either. Sakura can still fight but not with this many opponents." Kakashi said somewhat panicked.

As the crowd got closer something was shot into the air. It embedded into the concrete right in front of the mob of bandits, stopping them in place. It was an arrow that was shot from behind.

"If you come any further, the citizens of this country will stop you with everything we've got!!" Inari screamed out, he was wearing a helmet and had a crossbow in his hand. Behind the boy were villagers armed with their own makeshift weapons.

"Inari!!" Naruto shouted in excitement.

"The hero always comes through!" Inari said with a grin.

"Alright if Inari can provide back up so can I…" Naruto said as he formed the seals to his favorite jutsu.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!" Naruto said as multiple copies of him self materialized the blonde lost balance fell to the ground. Obliviously even with a near endless supply of stamina, Naruto was still fazed.

"Well I suppose I can provide some kind of support, hopefully these guys won't call my bluff." Kakashi said as he went through his own seals. Multiple clones materialized around Kakashi.

"So you guys still wanna fight?" Kakashi and Naruto's bunshins all asked in unison.

"Holy shit!" One of the bandits screamed out.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Another said, soon all of the bandits took off. They jumped onto their nearby ships and quickly sailed off. Once they were gone Naruto and Kakashi's bunshins puffed out of existence. With that everyone cheered on in victory.

Time Skip

…two weeks…

In the time passed Tazuna with help from everyone had finally finished the bridge. During the two weeks Zabuza and Haku were left to their own activities, they were no longer considered a threat because their job was over. They had no point in trying to killing to Tazuna if they weren't going to get paid. That and Zabuza new that Naruto would protect Tazuna. For the former Kiri nin that meant Haku wouldn't fight Naruto and he also didn't want to exactly tempt fate after seeing the transformation that Naruto pulled off. Zabuza didn't like to get into a fight without knowing something critical about his opponent.

Now that the bridge was done it was time for Team 7 to head back to Konoha. On the finished bridge Tazuna, Inari, Tsunami, and the villagers all wanted to say their goodbyes to the Konoha nins.

"We can't thank you all enough for what you did for us." Tazuna said.

"It's so sad that you have to leave us now…"

"Don't worry, we'll visit!" Naruto said.

"You better!" Inari said on the verge of tears.

Naruto went up to Inari and ruffled his hair; Inari began to cry and started to hug Naruto. "You idiot, now you're starting to make me cry." Naruto said as a tear fell down the side of his face.

"Oh that's so touching…" Rin said as she as her eyes started to tear up.

"Now it's alright Rin-chan." Kakashi said as he put his arm around Rin's shoulder, the medic-nin ended up hugging and burying her face in Kakashi's chest.

"I'm so glad I came!" Rin said as she cried some more, Kakashi only smiled nervously.

XXXXXXXXXX

"That boy changed Inari's heart for the better and Inari changed the hearts of this village. Naruto gave us hope." Tazuna said.

"Oh yeah, what should we call this bridge, it needs a name after all." Tazuna said.

"I don't know. What should we call it?" One of the villages asked.

"I got a great one, how about "The Great Naruto Bridge?" Tazuna asked.

"That's a good name." Inari said with a smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Well our mission if finally over, oh boy it's going to be fun debriefing Hokage-sama…" Kakashi said.

"Oh the old man won't mind, you know that." Rin said reassuringly as she wrapped her arm around Kakashi's arm.

"Now isn't that sweet, I think I got a new title for you Kakashi…" Zabuza said as he and Haku appeared in front of Team 7.

"…Whipped Kakashi…" Zabuza said with a laugh.

Kakashi had a vein pop out. "Grr…what the hell do you want?" Kakashi asked slightly pissed off.

"Hey don't get mad at me for pointing out the facts." Zabuza said in a joking manner.

"Anyway I'm here because I was wondering if Haku and I can tag along." Zabuza said bluntly. Everyone looked confused at the two.

"Not to be rude but why?" Rin asked.

"Well I kinda figured since you guys didn't turn us into the Hunter-nins that things were kinda cool between us. Also I owe the blonde gaki over there…" Zabuza said as he pointed at Naruto who looked even more confused. "…He saved Haku and inadvertently saved me as well. I owe him; also Haku has a crush on the gaki." Zabuza said out loud.

"What?!" Naruto and Rin yelled out. Haku could only blush.

"Uh oh, looks like Hinata-chan has more competition…this isn't going to be good." Rin thought.

"Zabuza-sama…please do not say things that aren't true." Haku said embarrassed blushing even more.

"Haku what did I say about calling me that?" Zabuza said as he made an expression on his face that would have been eye brow cocking…if he had any.

"Hai, I understand Otou-san, not when we are off the job." Haku said.

"OTOU-SAN!!" Everyone said out loud, even Sasuke.

Zabuza frowned under his mask. "Yes that's what she calls me. What the fuck else did you guys think was between us?" Zabuza stared at them for a moment. "Fucking sick pedophile perverts and you guys thought I was crazy."

AN: _I hope you guys liked it, though I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't do more for the bridge battle, but this part of the series was something I could never really umm, make into my own fight. Even with an extra character and weapon added I find myself having difficulty trying to expand the bridge battle. Jeez, look at me I can keep going on and on with making up excuses for myself. I just hope you guys aren't too disappointed with the, I guess you could call it the shortcoming of the fight.  
_


	11. Prelude to the Chunnin Exams

AN: _Hello! So another chapter here, I've been working my ass off trying to get out these chapters if you all may have noticed. My reasons for that will be mentioned in the coming weeks. But for the moment enjoy the work._

Chapter 10: Prelude to the Chunnin Exams

After a few days Team 7, their honorary member Rin, along with Zabuza and Haku arrived back at the gates of Konoha. The guards posted at the gate had quite the scare seeing Zabuza. After getting through the group had made their way to the Hokage Tower, once arriving at the tower the Hokage was expecting Team7. However he was surprised to see two new faces. The Sandaime of course had to listen to the debriefing of the mission. The aged Hokage found it impressive at the progress Team 7 had made. With Sakura starting to show signs of potential at becoming a Medic-nin and Sasuke picking up kenjutsu, the Hokage smiled. Sarutobi was also proud of Naruto since it was the blonde that was mostly responsible for his teammates getting the extra training.

Sarutobi was also briefed on Zabuza and Haku. He was told about everything that happened in the mission that involved them. Also Rin told the Hokage about Haku's potential as a skilled medic-nin.

"Well this seems like a job well done, however what about Zabuza-san and Haku-san?" Sarutobi asked.

"What the hell else do you think old man? We're here because the blonde gaki is here, I owe…" Haku suddenly nudged Zabuza. "…we owe him."

"Well you do realize this is an awkward situation? After all you are a wanted missing-nin." Sarutobi said.

"So what, you wanna turn us into the Kiri Hunter-nins?" Zabuza asked half expecting the worse.

"Well the reward money can help Konoha…however Konoha's economy doesn't need any assistance. Adding good nins to our ranks on the other hand would be more beneficial and it's not like you two plan on doing civilian work, right?" Sarutobi asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"Che, unless you want me to butcher whales for a living, civilian work isn't for me." Zabuza said sarcastically.

"Alright, looks like no-brow and Haku-chan are staying." Naruto said a little excited. Zabuza had a slight twitch being called that.

"Wait shouldn't we be worried about Kiri finding out about this?" Sakura asked.

"Well our political relations and activities with Kiri are for the better part of saying, dead in the water. Kiri doesn't really have any enemy nations and internally they've suffered many wars and coups, Zabuza-san should know about that." Sarutobi said while Zabuza simply nodded.

"Kiri essentially already has its own problems and the last thing they need is to go to war over a pair of missing-nin. Especially since one of them has a Kekkei Genkai and I know about the genocide that carriers of bloodlines were put through."

"So I guess that means were in, huh?" Zabuza asked.

"Yes you and Haku are in. Now of course we need some paperwork to make you two citizens but that won't take long. Now considering you both already have prior experience and training as nins, I can make Zabuza here a jounin and according to Rin, Haku has potential as a medic-nin and I'm sure Rin-san is in need of an assistant at the hospital, correct?" Sarutobi asked.

"Yes Hokage-sama, since Sakura still needs some more field work done before she can be taken on as a medic-nin in training. Haku would be perfect for the job and Sakura can still be taken in when she fulfills the requirements." Rin said.

"Okay then it's settled." Sarutobi reached into his desk and pulled out a pair of Konoha hitai-ate. "As of now Momichi Zabuza and…" Sarutobi paused for a moment since he had not heard of Haku's last name.

"It's Momichi Haku; she is my daughter after all." Zabuza said as he patted Haku's head.

"Right then, Momichi Zabuza and Momichi Haku are now officially citizens and nins of Konoha." Sarutobi tossed the hitai-ates to the two.

"Oh Kakashi-san I have something to discuss with you before you go. But the rest of you are dismissed. Oh and here take this folder Zabuza-san; it's for your living arrangements."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi remained with the Hokage as the other jounins arrived. Everyone stood before the Hokage. Amongst the crowd were some chunnin, one in particular was Iruka.

"Kakashi-san it's been a while since I've seen you. I've been meaning to talk to you for a while now." Iruka said a little excited.

"If you're wondering about Naruto and his team, well we've had a few rough spots but Naruto has become quite the asset to the team. At first he seemed very opposed to being in the team and now he's ended up gaining a lot of benefits for his teammates." Kakashi said happily with an eye-smile.

"Well I'm glad to hear that." Iruka smiled.

"If you two don't mind I think we need to go ahead and get to the subject at hand." Sarutobi said as he got everyone's attention.

"I'm guessing it's that time of the year again, huh?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, the Chunnin Exams are being held in Konoha and we need to know which genin cells are going to compete this year. We will start with the jounins responsible for the new genin cells. Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, do you have any genin who you believe are ready?" Sarutobi asked as he lit his pipe and took a puff.

XXXXXXXXXX

After everything was said and done, Sarutobi gave Zabuza and Haku the keys to where they were going to live. Coincidentally the two were going to live in the same apartment complex as Naruto. After taking a look at the place Zabuza told Haku to go take a look around the village. Naruto of course had to be the guide for Haku, so after Haku changed into the outfit she wore when she first met Naruto, the two took off.

The two made their way around the village. Naruto showed Haku around the places he always went to, they were about to head over to Ichiraku Ramen when the sound of a girl screaming was heard.

"Put Konohamaru down!" A girl with pigtails that were strangely arranged yelled out.

"You little snot-nosed punk, you think you can run into me and get away with it?!" A boy about a few years older than Naruto dressed in black wearing kabuki style face paint held up Konohamaru by his collar. Naruto noticed that he had something wrapped in bandages tied to his back and a hitai-ate plate for Sunagakure no Sato (Hidden Sand Village) was apart of his headpiece.

"Hey! Put Konohamaru down now!" Naruto yelled out as he approached the two. Naruto noticed that there were two other people there. A boy with glasses who looked to be the same age as Konohamaru, and a blonde haired girl with four pigtails and a metal object tied around the back of her waist. She also had a hitai-ate on which was tied around her neck.

"_Looks like they're both from Suna, wonder what they're doing here. It must be that time of the year." _

"What?" Naruto asked his father.

"_I'll explain later." _

"Come on Kankurou you're making a damn scene. Just put the kid down." The blonde haired girl said.

"Not until I teach this punk a lesson Temari." Kankurou said still holding Konohamaru up.

"If you don't put Konohamaru down or I'll put you down." Naruto said in a threatening manner.

"I'd like to see you try, this village is full of weaklings and I doubt you're any better." Kankurou said in a mocking tone.

"You don't know how wrong you are." Naruto said as he charged head on.

Kankurou used his unoccupied hand and moved it like a puppet master moves strings on their puppet. Naruto suddenly lost his footing and fell on his back. Kankurou smiled at his little attack.

POOF!!  
POOF!!

Before Kankurou could throw an insult at Naruto, the blonde genin disappeared in a puff of smoke and Konohamaru was replaced by a large rock.

"What the h…" Kankurou wasn't able to finish his sentence as Naruto came in from the opposite direction of where his bunshin was.

"Hey face paint!!"

BAM!!

Naruto yelled out as he elbowed Kankurou in the cheek. The nin clad in black was hit hard enough to fall on his side. Naruto smirked as Kankurou rubbed his cheek trying to soothe the aching pain in his face. The Suna-nin looked at Naruto with anger as he got back up.

"Yeah, no one can beat Naruto-nii-chan!!" Konohamaru cheered on with his friends.

"Wow this kid is pretty good to have seen Kankurou's "Kugutsu no Jutsu" (Puppetry Technique) and to counter like that. Not to mention that mask he wears gives off a mysterious look, it makes him kinda cute." Temari thought.

"Oh well I had better knock this guy out for his own good before Kankurou decides to play seriously." Temari was about to reach for the weapon she had tucked in her obi.

"I'd advise that you keep this between them." Temari paused as she turned slightly to see a senbon pointed at her neck. The needle was held in the hands of a young woman with long black hair wearing a pink sleeveless kimono.

"She's pretty damn fast; I guess Leaf really does have some promising nins." Temari thought as she drew her hand away from her weapon.

"That's it you little shit, it's my turn to play." Kankurou took off the wrapped object on his back.

"I'm guessing that's his puppet." Naruto thought.

"_It should be, be careful son. The abilities of puppets are extremely varied."_

"Yeah I know dad, it was a good thing we had that lesson on puppets and puppet masters or else I wouldn't have known about those chakra strings." Naruto said to his father as he drew out his Bo staff. Naruto got into his fighting stance, pointing the tip of his staff forward at Kankurou. The puppet master was about to unwrap his puppet when a rock struck him one of his hands. Kankurou looked in the direction the rock came from to see a dark-haired boy dressed in a blue shirt and beige shorts sitting on a tree branch.

"Dobe what am I gonna do with you, starting fights with idiot foreigners is a new low for you." The dark-haired boy said mockingly.

"Well he's pretty handsome, I guess this village isn't so bad after all, they have some good looking Shinobi." Temari thought.

"Hey he started it first teme, I was just strolling by, alright?" Naruto said in a jokingly innocent tone.

"I don't know who you are but you're gonna get your ass kicked along with your friend." Kankurou said threateningly.

"The teme my friend…?"

"The dobe my friend…?" Both Naruto and Sasuke said at the same time.

"…you gotta be shitting me!"

"…you gotta be shitting me!" Naruto and Sasuke responded at the same time.

"No matter Karasu (Crow) can take on both of you easily." Kankurou said.

"Kankurou stop this now." A voice behind Sasuke said. "You're an embarrassment to our village."

Everyone looked in the direction the voice came from. It was a boy about the same age as Naruto and Sasuke with red hair and gourd tied to his back. He was hanging by his feet upside down on a branch behind Sasuke. He also had a Suna hitai-ate and a strange tattoo on his forehead.

"How the hell did he sneak up behind me like that?" Sasuke thought as he readied his hand to grab his ninjato if the nin tried anything.

"There's something weird about this guy." Naruto thought.

"H-hey Ga-Gaara…" Kankurou said hesitantly, it was obvious that the Suna-nin was afraid of Gaara.

"You're pathetic have you forgotten why we're here?" Gaara asked in an annoyed tone.

"Listen Gaara, it wasn't my fault. See they started…" Kankurou struggled to explain himself.

"Shut up, I don't wanna hear anymore from you, unless you want me to kill you." Gaara said threateningly.

At this point Kankurou was sweating bullets. "I'm really sorry Gaara." Kankurou said looking half scared to death.

"I'm sorry also Gaara." Temari said, she wasn't as scared as Kankurou but was still fearful.

"He must be the leader; he's got an iron-grip of fear on those two. He's got some weird looking eyes." Sasuke thought as Gaara shunshined next to the other two Suna-nins.

"To be able to hit Kankurou with a stone, he's not half bad. For that blonde one to see the puppet strings, he's been pretty well trained." Gaara thought as he appeared next to his teammates.

"I apologize for the incident." Gaara said.

"Hey! You guys are Suna-nins, right? We maybe allies but foreign nins aren't allowed in here without permission. So why are you guys here?" Naruto asked, having studied some basic foreign politics with his father, Naruto remembered what was wrong with this picture.

"Wow, aren't you clueless?" Teamri said as she held up her passport that showed she was stamped and approved to be in the village. "We're here for the Chunnin Exams."

"_Looks like I don't have to explain to you about "that time of the year."_

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hatake Kakashi of Team 7 would like to nominate Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura." Kakashi said.

"Yuuhi Kurenai of Team 8 would like to nominate Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino." Kurenai said.

"Sarutobi Asuma of Team 10 would like to nominate Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji." Asuma said.

"Hmm…interesting all three of the new teams has been nominated. That's a rarity…" Sarutobi said as he took a puff from his pipe.

"Is there a problem with our choices Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked for everyone.

"No, all of your teams have performed the minimal requirement to qualify…"

"Hokage-sama, please wait a moment!" Iruka interrupted.

"What is it Iruka?"

"I maybe speaking out of place, but I was the teacher for all of those genin that was just nominated. They're all good; but it is way too soon for them to be doing this." Iruka protested.

"When I took the Chunnin Exams I was much younger than Naruto." Kakashi said.

"But Naruto and the others are different from you!!" Iruka shouted in disbelief. "Are you trying to crush them?!"

"I can understand you're being upset, but understand the academy days are over for these kids. They are no longer your students, they are soldiers of Konoha." Kakashi said in a dead serious tone.

XXXXXXXXXX

Temari proceeded to explain that she and her teammates were genin here to take the Chunnin Exams. It was made clear that surrounding villages including Suna were going to take their exam in Konoha. It was further elaborated that the purpose of having the exams in one village was to improve foreign relations and decrease the chances of a war outbreak between countries. During all of the explanations Naruto couldn't help but feel something was strange about Gaara.

"There's something weird about this guys eyes. Obviously he doesn't get a whole lot of sleep but also they remind of some kind of animal, maybe a…" Naruto thought.

"_**Raccoon?" **_

"Yeah I guess you're right furball."

"_**No surprise I was a little bit puzzled at first, until I recognized his scent." **_

"Scent? But you're inside of me how the hell cans you smell something off of him?" Naruto asked a little puzzled.

"_Well son, furball says "scent" but he is actually referring to chakra."_

"Okay so what's wrong with his chakra? I don't feel anything wrong with it."

"_Actually son, that strange feeling you've been getting is your body being able to sense it. You just haven't refined the ability yet." _

"And how is it that I can already do this?"

"_**To put it simply, it's because I'm inside of you and you've used my chakra before."**_

"So what does that mean exactly?"

"_**Do I need to make this anymore obvious? He has two different sets of chakra." **_

"Wait! He's a jinchuuriki like me?!" Naruto screamed out at Kyuubi.

"_**Yeah kit, he's the container of "Ichibi no Shukaku"**_ (One-Tailed Raccoon). _**That's why his eyes look the way they are, it's a sign of his Raccoon tenant."**_

"If I can sort of sense his chakra, how come he hasn't said anything me?"

"_**Probably because it's going to take longer for his tenant to notice also your seal is different, there's something different about their seal. I could only sense the demonic chakra and recognize that it was Shukaku because that kid's got a lot of demon chakra seeping into his own coils."**_

"_I think Gaara was given a defective seal. It would explain all the demonic chakra in his system." _

"Nonetheless he's just like me then." Naruto thought.

"Hey you bastard!!" Temari screamed out at Naruto just as he finished talking to his father and Kyuubi.

"Hm?" Naruto responded a little absentmindedly.

"Dammit you're the one that asked the question so pay attention until I finish!!" Temari yelled out.

Before Naruto could say anything in his own defense, Sasuke jumped down from the branch he was on. Standing in front of the group the dark-haired genin looked at the Suna-nins.

"Hey you, what's your name?" Sasuke asked.

"You mean me?" Temari asked with a blush and a bit of excitement in her voice.

Sasuke gave Temari a confused look. "No…" He said flatly. "I'm talking to the gourd."

"Sabaku no Gaara."(Gaara of the Sand)

"I'm interested in your name…" Gaara took a glance at Naruto and thought. "There's something about him…"

"_**THAT DOESN'T MATTER KILL HIM!! I WANT THEIR BLOOD NOW!" **_A voice inside of Gaara's mind screamed out.

For the moment Gaara reluctantly ignored the voice that screamed inside his head. "…and his name as well…" Gaara said as he pointed at Naruto.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Feeling satisfied and the voice in his head having quieted down Gaara turned around. "We're done here, let's go." Gaara and his teammates left Naruto and the others.

As Gaara and his team took their leave, after a quick little argument Sasuke took his leave as well. Unknown to everyone during their little conversation, they were being watched.

A trio of nins, two boys and one girl. Were watching from a distance, they all had on camouflaged pants and had hitai-ates with a music note for a symbol.

"So what do you think?" One of the nins asked.

The boy in the center had nearly his entire face wrapped in bandages accept for his left eye. It seemed to be he was the leader of the group.

"Well nothing to serious. We'll have to keep an eye on the dark-haired one and the Suna-nin. The blonde looks like a possible problem as well."

XXXXXXXXXX

After the whole incident Naruto was once again heading to Ichiraku with Haku. Konohamaru and his friends Udon and Moegi decided to tag along. While on the way to Ichiraku, Haku gave Naruto a few quick glances.

"That Naruto, he really does protect those precious to him." Haku smiled. "You save me and Zabuza-sama, who now more openly acknowledges me as his daughter, and then you go out of your way to help Konohamaru-chan. A girl could really fall for a guy like you." Haku thought as she blushed.

"Hey Nee-chan are you Naurto-nii-chans girlfriend?" Konohamaru asked out of the blue.

"Wh-what?!" Naruto blurted out.

Haku blushed a deeper shade of red. "Um n-no, we're just friends." Haku said slightly embarrassed at the question.

"Konohamaru what's wrong with you?!" Naruto shouted he was also slightly embarrassed.

"What, I thought she was your girl. Or maybe you still got your eye on that pink-haired classmate?" Konohamaru asked, much to the youth's surprise Naruto didn't show any of reaction that would hint towards some kind of affection.

"Sorry I didn't tell you this sooner Konohamaru, but I'm not pursuing her anymore. I don't have a crush on her anymore, more so she's just my teammate, maybe my friend if she'll let." Naruto said.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Co. arrived at Ichiraku and much to Teuchi's joy Naruto made a large order. He was also glad that his favorite costumer was back. The old chef had a growing anxiety that something had happened to Naruto since he hadn't shown up in the last few weeks.

"Naruto, I'm so glad that you're back. Where were you?" Teuchi asked as he got the orders ready.

"I was on a mission outside of Konoha. It took a while but my team and I got the job done. And I got a new friend too, old man meet Momichi Haku. Haku-chan meet Teuchi." Naruto said.

"Nice to meet you miss, it seems to be Naruto has a knack for bringing pretty girls to the restaurant." Teuchi said in a teasing tone, obviously trying to get a reaction from Naruto.

"That's not true old man!" Naruto yelled out, his mask hiding the blush on his face.

"Oh what about that Hyuuga girl you brought last time?" Teuchi asked with a smirk.

"Damn you old man…just get everyone's ramen already." Naruto said.

Teuchi got a good laugh out Naruto's reactions. Konohamaru only made things worse for the blonde when he brought up the conversation from earlier. While everyone was talking, Ayame had just arrived to start her shift with her father. She was putting on her white uniform for work when she heard a familiar voice. Not even waiting or hesitating Ayame rushed out to see her favorite blonde nin.

"Naruto-kun!" Ayame yelled out as she reached over the counter and pulled the blonde into a hug.

"Hi Ayame-chan…" Naruto said as he struggled to get out of the suffocating hug he was in.

"Have you met Haku?" Naruto asked while still in the hug. Ayame looked to see a girl with long black hair. She looked about a few years older than Naruto. The girl gave a nervous smile.

"Hi…" Haku said as she found the little display affection towards Naruto a little sudden and awkward.

"Oh it's nice to meet you." Ayame said with a smile.

"This girl must be close to Naruto-kun." Haku thought.

"Wow Naruto-nii-chan is a real player! He's got two girls wrapped around his arms!" Konohamaru said out loud.

"Konohamaru-chan, Naruto-nii-chan isn't a womanizing lecher! He wouldn't be doing something like that!" Moegi yelled out in Naruto's defense.

Haku and Ayame both noticeably blushed while Naruto had his mask hide his blush. At the same time Naruto had a mortified look on his face.

"So um, Naruto-kun where were you the last couple of weeks?" Ayame asked while Konohamaru and Moegi got into a sort of argument over Naruto's status with women.

"I was on a mission and that's where I met Haku-chan…"

XXXXXXXXXX

After things had settled down Naruto told Ayame all about his mission to Nami no Kuni. He told her about their run in with the Oni Brothers and Zabuza's ambush. Naruto also told Ayame about his sparring with Sasuke and first meeting Haku. Ayame was told about the battle on the bridge and a different conclusion, Naruto had to avoid telling her about certain "tenants" and the violent end of a crime lord.

In the middle of telling Ayame about what had happened during his mission. Haku found herself completely amazed by the sheer amount of ramen that Naruto was eating. Also Ayame took the moment to enjoy seeing Naruto's whole face and his whisker marks. Haku also found herself doing the same; she too had taken a liking to the blondes "birthmarks."

By the end of it all Ayame was pretty much flabbergasted by hearing just about everything that had happened. She also found herself falling even more for Naruto after hearing what he did to save Haku and Zabuza. Though on the outside she yelled out to Naruto and told him that it was very reckless and dangerous what he had done. Ayame also came to the conclusion that she had more competition for Naruto.

"It looks like Naruto and Haku have gotten pretty close. Oh boy, this is looking bad for me. Haku seems to be older than Naruto but closer to his age group than I am." Ayame gave out a sigh of defeat. The young waitress then noticed that Naruto and Haku were staring at her nervously.

"Uh, Ayame-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Oh! Um yes what is it Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked in a frenzy trying to hide her embarrassment.

"We're done with our meals. Here's the money for the ramen Ayame-chan. I gotta take Haku-chan back to her home before her father kills me…literally." Naruto said nervously.

"Oh okay then Naruto-kun but before you go…" Ayame once more pulled Naruto into a hug. "Please let me know ahead of time when you leave for that long, okay?" Ayame said with a hint of sadness.

"S-sure thing." Naruto said a little nervously at the human contact.

XXXXXXXXXX

Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi eventually left and headed off in their own direction. Naruto and Haku entered the apartment complex, once inside they headed back to the front of Haku's apartment room. When Haku opened the door she found her father waiting patiently.

"Hello Otou-san." Haku said happily.

"Yo! How do you like the apartment Zabuza?" Naruto asked as he gave off an eye-smile.

"It's rather nice I suppose. Though I never was one to care much about this kinda stuff, anyway Haku how'd you like Konoha so far?" Zabuza asked.

"Man I'm kinda surprised by Zabuza's behavior." Naruto thought.

"_Yeah so am I, guess you're not the only most surprising ninja here. To think he goes from one-man slaughter house to a rather decent father." _Minato said.

"Well in all honesty this is getting weird for me." Naruto said to his father.

"Well Haku-chan I better get going now, I'll see you later, you too Zabuza-san." Naruto said as he turned around and headed to his floor. Before Naruto knew it he found himself in a hug from Haku.

"Thanks for showing me around Naruto-kun." Haku said as she kissed him on the cheek. Naruto immediately blushed.

"You're welcome H-Haku-chan. Hehheh I'll see you later." Naruto said as walked away a little shaken.

Despite having bandages wrapped around his face in a makeshift mask, Zabuza showed obvious signs of annoyance.

"She gets mad at me when I tell her she's got a crush on the gaki. And yet she's the one flirting with him. I hate this adolescent's crap; I didn't have this kinda problem growing up…then again being a top-ranked assassin at an early age, in a country that went through an ass load of wars doesn't really give you much time for a decent relationship." Zabuza thought grimly.

XXXXXXXXXX

That night Naruto had a lot on his mind. He thought about the Suna-nins and their jinchuuriki teammate. "I'm not the only one of my kind…" Naruto said.

Naruto also thought about Haku and Zabuza living in the same apartment as him, thinking how they went from enemies to allies in no time. The blonde chuckled at the antics of Konohamaru and his friends as well. Naruto blushed at the thought of getting a hug from Ayame every time he showed up at the restaurant, at the same time he felt bad for always taking a long leave and not giving her a heads up.

Naruto just laid on his bed thinking about the recent events. There was one thing that was on Naruto's mind the most. To be more exact it was a person, a she to be precise.

"Hinata…" Naruto said quietly to himself.

Ever since the blonde nin had gotten close to Hinata, he always thought about her. He still couldn't get over that someone from the academy would care for him. She was growing on the blonde. His attachment to her was something he didn't want to lose. For now Naruto saw this as a close companionship. It didn't occur to Naruto that those feelings of companionship would change.

"I have to see her tomorrow…but how am I gonna do this?" Naruto asked himself as his eyes slowly closed shut.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next day Naruto woke up and went through his usual routine. Doing some exercises to get the blood pumping, Naruto cleaned himself up. After getting changed and grabbing a light breakfast, Naruto went to meet his team. On his way out of the apartment Naruto ran into Haku and Zabuza. Haku was going to meet Rin at the hospital and Zabuza was sporting a Konoha jounin uniform, ready for his first assignment. Naruto merely said his hello and took off.

Upon arrival, much to Sakura and Sasuke's surprise, Naruto was actually early for a change. Normally the blonde was almost as late as Kakashi, only arriving five to ten minutes before the one-eyed jounin himself. This time however Naruto arrived at the designated time.

Naruto ignored the questions by his teammates concerning his early arrival. At the moment the blonde was too busy thinking about how he would approach Hinata. The blonde was so caught up he didn't care that he just wasted a couple hours. Once the hours passed, Kakashi finally arrived.

"Sorry I'm late everyone." Sasuke and Sakura had irritated looks on their faces. Naruto was just lost in thought.

"This is sudden, but I've nominated you all for the Chunnin Exams." Kakashi said as he handed applications to his team.

Naruto and Sasuke both looked at Kakashi, the jounin started feel a little uncomfortable. "Took you long enough…"

"Took you long enough…" Both said at the same time.

Kakashi face faulted. "How did you two know?" Kakashi asked.

"The dobe and I ran into some Suna-nins yesterday." Sasuke said.

"Yeah they filled us in; also I had "someone" to ask about it." Naruto said.

"Rin-sensei filled me in on it yesterday also." Sakura said.

"Well then since there is no need for an explanation. Now then you should all know that this is simply an invitation. Whether or not you want to participate is up to you. Those will need to be turned in 4PM tomorrow, when the exam starts. See you all till then." Kakashi said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

XXXXXXXXXX

After taking off, Naruto decided that he would grab some lunch. Even making his way to his favorite kind of food, the blonde genin was still distracted with thoughts how to approach Hinata.

"_You know son all you have to do is just find her and talk to her." _Minato said to his son.

"I know dad, but…"

"_**For the love of Kami Kit, stop being such a wuss!" **_Kyuubi yelled out.

"I really don't need to you tell me…"

"Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked, the young waitress having noticed Naruto was approaching the restaurant but seemed to have been dazed.

The blonde himself was so caught up in his own thoughts and talking to his tenants that he didn't realize he already arrived at Ichiraku.

"Oh hey Ayame-chan…" Naruto said a little distracted as he took a seat on one of the stools.

XXXXXXXXXX

The whole time Naruto was eating his lunch Ayame couldn't help but notice that Naruto was acting strange. The blonde was eating but he wasn't tearing into his noodles like he normally did. Not only that is seemed that Naruto's mind was in a completely different place. Ayame decided that she would ask her favorite blonde nin what was wrong, she cared too much for the blonde to let it go.

"Alright Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" Ayame asked.

"What?" Naruto responded.

"Tell me what's wrong Naruto-kun." Ayame said.

"Nothings wrong, I'm just…"

"Naruto, you've barely been eating your ramen and you've been acting weird." Ayame said.

"Look I'm just…"

"Naruto-kun, you don't have to pretend nothing has happened. Please tell me what's wrong. Maybe I can help, okay?" Ayame asked with a warm smile as she took a seat next to Naruto.

Naruto stared at Ayame for a few moments. "I guess I can tell her, I don't want to worry her." Naruto thought.

"See it happened after I left the restaurant when I had brought my team for lunch…" Ayame listened to Naruto explain what had happened and began to get a good idea of what was going on.

"So Naruto-kun has been avoiding Hinata-chan because that whole thing that happened. Now he doesn't know how he should approach her. Oh Naruto-kun, Hinata cares too much about you to get upset over something like that." Ayame thought.

"Naruto-kun, don't be such an idiot." Ayame said bluntly. Naruto stared at Ayame wide-eyed for a few seconds. He really never expected that Ayame would say something like that.

"I'm sorry I had to call you that Naruto-kun. But Hinata-chan cares too much about you to let something like this keep you two apart. She's your friend Naruto-kun; she wouldn't hate you for this. And now that you've been avoiding her like this she's probably worried sick about you. You're hurting her by doing this…" Ayame said

The last few words echoed inside of Naruto's mind. He was hurting Hinata by avoiding her that was something Naruto didn't want to do anymore. He didn't want to hurt Hinata, in anyway.

"I'm such an idiot, Ayame-chan is right. I can't do this to Hinata-chan." Naruto thought with a renewed resolve.

"Thank you Ayame-chan, I really needed that." Naruto said as he pulled Ayame into a hug.

The young waitress's face cycled through multiple shades of red from the hug. It was the first time that Naruto had ever hugged her. Even though Ayame had always been giving Naruto hugs, this was the first she was on the receiving end of it.

"I'm going to find Hinata-chan now…" Naruto quickly put down the pay for the ramen. "Thanks again Ayame-chan." Naruto said as he took off.

Ayame smiled as Naruto took off. The young waitress gave off a small sigh of defeat. Teuchi came out from the back and noticed the look on his daughters face. The old ramen chef patted Ayame on the back.

"You did the right thing." Teuchi said with a smile.

"What do you mean Otou-san?" Ayame asked.

"You know what I mean. You could have taken advantage this to get closer to him." Teuchi said.

"I couldn't do that; it would be unfair to Hinata. And Naruto cares too much about her to just let go." Ayame said contently.

"But now I think I've lost any chance…" Ayame thought.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was glad Ayame made things clear for him. The blonde was going to find Hinata; the only problem now for Naruto was he had no idea where to find her.

"Dammit, where can Hinata-chan be? I have no idea where she is."

"_Well you can't entirely be blamed for this son; after all she's usually the one who finds you." _

"Well I suppose she could be with her team right now. Yeah, I'll go check the Team 8 training grounds."

XXXXXXXXXX

Hinata was breathing hard; she had just spent the last few hours practicing Jyuuken. Her hands had blisters and cuts, they showed that she had been practicing her open-palm strikes. The young heiress sat down and took a breather.

The last few weeks hadn't been very kind to her. Ever since the incident with Neji, it seemed that Hinata was unable to find Naruto. She wanted so badly to tell him that he didn't do anything wrong. Hinata was only upset during the time because she didn't want Naruto be swept up in the problems that her family had between members of the Main and Branch.

Not being able to see Naruto had made things harder for the Hyuuga. She needed his support and his companionship. The situation also wasn't any better when Neji had caught wind of it and started to use this as material to insult and torture Hinata. The Branch member would tell Hinata that not even a dead-last loser wanted her now.

"Naruto-kun where are you? I miss you so much…" Hinata said to herself.

Unknown to Hinata at the moment, she was being watched. It was a man dressed in an Amegakure no Sato (Hidden Rain Village) shinobi uniform with a cloak and Kasa straw hat.

"After her, one more to go…" The Ame-nin said

XXXXXXXXXX

While Hinata rested, mist started to form around the training grounds. Hinata quickly got on her feet. She knew something was wrong and quickly activated her Byakugan (White Eye).

"W-whoever you a-are, you can't hide f-from me!" Hinata said.

"Right I forgot about the special abilities of a Hyuuga." The Ame-nin said as he stepped out.

"W-what d-do you want with m-me?" Hinata asked.

"I'm just here to eliminate the competition for the Chunnin Exams." The Ame-nin said.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto made his way to the Team 8 training grounds after asking Sarutobi where it was. On the way there Naruto noticed a growing mist.

"What the hell, it's the afternoon where did this come from?" Naruto asked himself.

"_Obviously son this is the same jutsu that Zabuza liked using." _

"Yeah but this can't be Zabuza, I better find Hinata." Naruto thought somewhat panicked.

The blonde genin took off into the mist. As he got deeper into the training grounds he could hear the sound of voices.

"I'm just here to eliminate the competition for the Chunnin Exams." Naruto heard the voice of a man say.

Naruto could now see the man who just spoke. He was an Ame-nin and standing in front of him was Hinata. It looked like the nin was about to attack and Hinata was in her Jyuuken stance.

"That dirty cheating bastard!" Naruto thought.

"_I didn't think an Ame-nin would go this far for the Chunnin Exam. But this kind of thing is expected."_

"_**Kit what are you waiting for? Are you going to let your woman get attacked?" **_

"Hinata doesn't belong to me you stupid fox, but there is no way in hell I'm gonna let this bastard get anywhere near her!!" Naruto said as his eyes started to glow red.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Alright how should I start this little tes…?" The Ame-nin was unable to finish his thought as a kunai flew past him.

"Where did that come fro…?"

"Katon: Dai Endan!" The Ame-nin had wide-eyes as he barely dodged the fireball launched at him.

"Who the hell did that?!" The Ame-nin yelled out.

"Over here!" Naruto shouted as he came down on the Ame-nin with his Bo staff.

The Ame-nin used an umbrella strapped to his back to defend himself. The sound of the umbrella cracking from the attack was heard.

"Na-Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled out, both surprised and relieved that Naruto was here.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" The Ame-nin yelled out.

"Take another step towards Hinata-chan and I'll make every waking moment of your life very painful." Naruto said as his eyes continued to glow red.

"Okay I didn't expect him to show up, his eyes…they're changing like before." The Ame-nin thought.

The Ame-nin readied his umbrella for an attack. Naruto quickly charged forward and launched a barrage of strikes with his Bo staff. Naruto's attacks were fast and relentless. Before the Ame-nin knew it his umbrella was snapped and smacked out his hand. Holding his staff in one hand Naruto thrust his weapon forward; the tip of his Bo staff impacted the Ame-nins chest.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto summoned his Bunshins as the Ame-nin stumbled back on his feet.

"U!" One of the bunshins rushed forward and punched the Ame-nin in the face, forcing him back on his feet.

"Zu!" Naruto and the other bunshins rushed in, Naruto jumped off the backs of one of the bunshins.

"Ma!" Once in the air, the remaining bunshins all kicked the nin at the same time sending him into the air.

"Ki!"

"Naruto Rendan!!" Naruto in the air met the Ame-nin with a downward kick to the face.

The nin smashed into the ground causing a small explosion of dust. Naruto landed on his feet, his bunshins disbursed at the same time. Naruto expected to see a badly injured nin lying in the crater. However he only found a rock.

"Damn that son of a bitch!" Naruto yelled out in anger while Hinata flinched from the outburst.

"The next time I see that nin I'm not gonna bring his ass to the ANBU, I'll just kill him." Naruto thought.

"_Son calm down, he's gone nothing else to do about it. You keep this up and you'll…" _

"N-naruto-kun?" Hinata stuttered out.

Naruto turned around; he was still angered that he couldn't catch the Ame-nin. Hinata saw the anger in his eyes, but more so she saw the change in color as well.

"Na-naruto-kun y-your eyes t-there red…"

"What?" Naruto said surprised.

"_Like I was about to say, you keep this up and you'll end up drawing more of the furballs chakra." _

"But how?!"

"_I'll explain later, just calm down already." _

Naruto did as he was told. His eyes changed back to the gentle blue they always were. Naruto then looked at Hinata with concern.

"Tenshi-chan are you alright? That bastard nin didn't do anything to you did he?" Naruto asked.

Hinata blushed as Naruto looked her over for any injuries. "I-I'm a-alright y-you came before h-he could d-do anything."

"That's good…" Naruto breathed a sigh of relief while he hugged Hinata.

Hinata blushed, she was also glad Naruto was here with her now. She missed him and now he was back, showing his concern for her and holding her close to him. She missed being held by him and enjoyed the moment by returning the hug and leaning her head against Naruto's chest.

XXXXXXXXXX

Nearby where Naruto and Hinata stood holding each other. The Ame-nin stood by a tree clutching his injured chest.

"Now…isn't…that sweet…" The nin said in between grunts of pain. "…I…don't…think I can…test…them again…" The Ame-nin said as he limped away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Hinata stood there holding each other just a little bit longer. They both missed the other enough to not want to let go.

"I'm sorry Hinata…" Naruto said.

"F-for what N-naruto-kun?" Hinata asked confused.

"I'm sorry about fighting Neji, I should have listened to you but I lost my temper and…"

"P-please d-don't apologize, it w-was m-my fault…i-it's because o-of me that N-neji-nii-san is l-like t-this…" Hinata stuttered.

"How is it your fault Hinata did something happen between you two?" Naruto asked Hinata as he let go of her.

"N-no, n-nothing ha-happened…"

Naruto stared into Hinata eyes; he then pulled down his mask to show the serious expression on his face. "I know that something is wrong, you can tell me Hina-chan. You can trust me." Naruto said as he sat down near a tree and signaled for Hinata to sit next to him.

Hinata blushed a little at the sight of Naruto's face. "O-okay N-Naruto-kun, to s-start you h-have to know a-about my f-families traditions and p-politics…"

Hinata proceeded to explain the separation between the Main House and Branch House, the job of the Branch and their subjugation and protection of the Byakugan through use of the Caged Bird Seal. She told Naruto of how Neji and his father were members of the Branch and how Neji would be responsible for protecting Hinata.

Hinata then told Naruto of the incident involving the Shinobi representative of "Kumogakure no Sato" (Hidden Cloud Village). How her father had stopped her kidnapping and in the process killed the Kumo-nin. She explained that the nin kidnapped her so that Kumo could get the Byakugan.

"T-the council f-from K-kumo wanted revenge f-for t-the death of t-their Shinobi. T-they demanded m-my father t-to be executed. B-but i-it w-was suspected t-that they were d-doing this f-for the Byakugan. N-eji-nii-san's f-father Hizashi, m-my f-father's t-twin brother…" Hinata's eyes started to water, tears fell out as Hinata closed her eyes.

"Hizashi had the Seal on him; he was killed place of your father wasn't he?" Naruto asked Hinata only nodded.

It didn't take long to fully understand now why Neji had a deep-seated hatred for Hinata. Naruto realized that just like himself, Hinata was being blamed and hated for something beyond her own control. Naruto quickly pulled Hinata closer to him and hugged her. Hinata was surprised at first but then quickly buried her face into Naruto's chest and cried.

It took a little while but Hinata had settled down and mostly dried her tears. "T-that i-is why N-neji h-hates me and my f-father, as w-well a-as t-the Main h-house…" Hinata then stared into Naruto's eyes, for a moment she blushed a little bit. "T-that's w-why m-my dream i-is to b-become a g-good Clan L-leader, I-I want t-to g-get rid of t-the Curse S-seal and u-unite t-the families together." Hinata said with the most determination she could muster.

Naruto smiled at her, his kind blue eyes made Hinata's face darken. "I know you will become a good clan leader. Even before and after I become Hokage, I will do everything I can to help you." Naruto said with a genuine smile.

Hinata could only blush even more. "T-thank y-you N-naruto-kun."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi was waiting patiently for Rin to meet him at a restaurant while reading his favorite orange book. The One-eyed jounin gave a small giggle after reading his favorite part of the chapter. Over to the side Iruka stumbled in limping and clutching his lower back. Kakashi noticed and raised his eyebrow in amusement.

"I can only assume you went through with testing your former students, eh Iruka?" Kakashi asked while absently reading his book.

"Sort of, I didn't actually finish testing the last two and at this point, I highly doubt I can test them again." Iruka said in a pained voice.

"What happened? Who were the last two?" Kakashi asked while lowering his book.

"Hinata and Naruto…"

"Hinata beat you up or something?" Kakashi asked with a chuckle.

"Actually Hinata didn't do anything…let's just say never threaten Hinata in front of Naruto, ever…" Iruka said with a combination of fear and seriousness.

"So Naruto showed up while you were testing Hinata?" Kakashi asked while looking at all of the bruises on Iruka.

"Yeah…I tell ya, Naruto hits really hard…"

"Well I told you they were prepared, sorta. Anyway don't tell Rin about this, she might take this wrong way and…" Before Kakashi could finish his sentence, said person showed.

"Don't tell me what?" Rin asked Kakashi and Iruka immediately had pale faces.

"Oh nothing…" Kakashi said nervously.

"Uh huh, oh hey Iruka long time no see!" Rin said as she smacked Iruka's back in a friendly way. A very loud and defining sound was heard from Iruka's back.

SNAP!!  
"AHHHHH!! My back! I hurt my back!" Iruka screamed in pain and nearly collapsed.

"Jeez what happened to you?!" Rin asked while trying to help Iruka to his feet and noticed the bruises on his face.

"Um well, see uh…I kinda…" Iruka struggled to think of a good story, Kakashi looked nervous as well.

The jounin really didn't want to chance any possible ramifications for telling Rin what really happened, for both their sakes. "Fell…off…the stairs! That's what happened! Iruka fell off the stairs and hit every single step on the way down!" Kakashi yelled out answering for Iruka.

"Yeah that's exactly what happened! My clumsy ass fell off the stairs!" Iruka added to the excuse.

"Wait what stairs?" Rin asked confused by the explanation and by their behavior. "Wait where the hells are you guys going?!"

"Sorry can't talk Rin-chan, gotta get Iruka to some medical attention!" Kakashi said while dragging Iruka behind him.

"Yeah I gotta see a doctor!" Iruka said struggling to run behind Kakashi.

"Wait you jackasses I'm medical-nin remember!?" Rin screamed out while chasing the two.

AN: _I don't really know if that was good enough for you guys. Especially for those who wanted to see some more fluff. _


	12. Chunnin Exams

AN: _Hello everyone! I hope some of you guys don't get upset with me, but I'm considering dropping Ino from the harem. My reasons being are, well initially I was the one to decide to put Ino in, and it wasn't a voting matter. So that means I'm not going back on the poll results. It's also because I realized that Ino is a character that is going to be particularly hard for me to write into the harem. Plus InoChouji is growing on me, lol._

Chapter 11: Chunnin Exams

It was early morning for Konoha and not much was happening, at least throughout most of the village. The testing center where the beginning stage of the Chunnin Exams would be held was starting to pile up with shinobi and kunoichi from all over.

Back at our favorite blonde's apartment, said person was just getting up. Going through his usual rounds of stretching out, exercising, washing up and breakfast. Naruto got into his shinobi outfit. After loading up on his equipment and checking to see if his kodachi blades were sharpened. Naruto took off. On his way out Naruto once more ran into Haku and Zabuza.

Naruto saw Haku blush a little as he walked closer to her. The blonde suddenly remembered what had happened yesterday when he and Hinata had run into Haku and Zabuza.

Flashback

Naruto and Hinata were just coming back from the Team 8 training grounds. Naruto decided he would walk Hinata back to her home. Although blushing and fighting the urge not to faint, Hinata took the initiative and held Naruto's hand while walking back.

"So Tenshi-chan, am I going to see you tomorrow at the Chunnin Exams?" Naruto asked innocently.

"Y-yes Naruto-kun, m-my team w-was given t-the invitation." Hinata said.

"Cool, I'm glad you're going to be participating. I know we're gonna kick some serious ass!" Naruto shouted in excitement, Hinata giggled at Naruto's enthusiasm.

"What? You don't believe me?!" Naruto said pretending to have a sad puppy…err…fox look on his face, with wide-eyes and crocodile tears.

Hinata found the whole display to be very cute and actually made an "aww" sound, like when a girl finds something really cute. Of course Hinata blushed afterwards at her own reaction. Before she could say anything else, the sound of running and screaming was heard.

"Sorry Rin-chan it's urgent that I get Iruka out of here!" Kakashi screamed out as he dragged Iruka behind him.

"Will you listen to me you dammit?! You're making his wounds worse by dragging him like that!" Rin screamed out, hot on Kakashi's tail.

Naruto and Hinata both had a sweat drop down the sides of their heads.

"What the hell was that all about?" Naruto asked.

"I-I don't k-know N-naruto-kun…"

XXXXXXXXXX

After a little bit more walking together and enjoying one another's company. Naruto somewhere along the line got on the subject of Hinata's bloodline. The blonde remarked that the pearl-like pupil-less lavender eyes that Hinata had looked really cool.

"A-are you sure a-about that N-naruto-kun?"

"Of course, your eyes look really cool. Mine are just plain old normal blue." Naruto said.

Hinata thought otherwise. She had always found Naruto's blue eyes to be the most perfect cerulean. The young heir always found Naruto's eyes to be more than just "normal blue." To her, they were gentle kind eyes that were always so full of energy and life.

"N-no Naruto-kun, y-you're eyes a-are special too…" Hinata said, Naruto was puzzled and blinked owlishly a couple of times.

"What do mean Tenshi-chan?" Naruto asked, Hinata blushed from the combination of being called an angel again and thinking about why she was fond of Naruto's eyes.

Hinata focused as much as she could, she didn't want to stutter. "T-too me, y-you're eyes are special because they a-are so gentle. T-there's so much life i-in them, and I feel at e-ease looking at them." Hinata said and looked away as she started to fidget with her fingers.

Had Naruto actually had his mask off the blonde would have shown his own blush. "T-thanks Hina-chan, I d-didn't think you thought of m-my eyes like that."

Now on the subject of eyes Hinata remembered how Naurto's eyes looked earlier when he had fought the Ame-nin.

"N-naruto-kun d-do you h-have a Kekki Genkai?" Hinata asked surprising Naruto.

"No I don't have one last I checked…" Naruto said.

"We don't right?" Naruto asked his father.

"_Nope Namikazes never had a bloodline, we would've been valued a little more. And your mother's family never had one either." _

"Why would you ask Tenshi-chan?"

"I-it's because your e-eyes earlier w-were glowing r-red. I-I thought y-you m-might have a Doujutsu. (Eye Technique)" Hinata said.

"Oh…well the thing is…" Naruto took a long pause.

"Oh shit she saw my eyes glow earlier." Naruto thought panicked.

"_**And your dumbass already told her you don't have a bloodline, ssssmaarrrt."**_

"You're not helping the situation asshole." Naruto deadpanned to Kyuubi.

"_You know son, you could always tell her." _

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Naruto yelled out to his father.

"_The "Third's Law" never said anything about you telling her." _

"That's not what I meant dad! I-if I t-tell her, she might…"

"_If she truly cares for you son, then it won't matter."_

"But dad…" Naruto felt the anxiety build up inside of him. It almost seemed like fate was forcing Naruto into a corner.

Hinata saw the internal struggle on Naruto's face. She could tell that Naruto knew the answer but didn't want to exactly say anything.

"I-it's okay if y-you don't w-want to tell me, I u-understand…"

"No!" Naruto shouted. "I want to tell you, just…not now okay. It's kinda complicated…" Naruto said sadly.

Hinata saw how much discomfort Naruto was in and did the only thing she knew that would comfort him. She hugged him.

"N-naruto-kun, i-it's alright. Y-you can t-tell me when y-you feel like i-it." Hinata could feel Naruto's muscles relax.

"Thanks Hinata-chan, when the time comes I'll tell you…everything." Naruto quietly said the last part.

"Ahem!" A gruff sounding voice said Naruto and Hinata both broke from the embrace saw the person the voice came from.

"You gonna introduce me or what gaki?" Zabuza said with Haku standing next to him.

"Oh hey Zabuza, Haku-chan." Naruto said as he looked at both of them.

"Tenshi, I mean Hinata-chan meet Zabuza and Haku. And Zabuza, Haku, meet Hinata." Naruto made the hand gestures to point out who was who.

"So gaki, is the girl over there your girlfriend?" Zabuza asked suddenly. Hinata blushed and Naruto flinched a little.

"Um n-no, we're just really good friends." Naruto said a little embarrassed. Hinata blushed and then felt a little disappointed, but was still glad to be called a close friend.

"Oh…" Zabuza said with an expression that would have meant a raised eyebrow. "In that case it looks like you haven't lost your chance yet Haku. But it looks like you have competition though." Zabuza said somewhat amused.

"Oh no, don't tell me there is another girl who wants to be with Naruto-kun!" Hinata thought.

"O-otou-san, please don't say things like that!" Haku said frantically, embarrassed and blushing.

"Oh come on you like the idiot don't you? Just go after him before someone else comes along and takes him, like her…" Zabuza said pointing at Hinata. "Besides I didn't raise my daughter to be a damn pushover. If anything you'll probably have to fight for the gaki…"

For a moment Hinata and Haku both had an expression on their faces that said they may have considered the option. Naruto himself plain old paled at the idea of two of his precious people fighting each other.

"O-otou-san, you don't actually expect me to fight one of Naurto-kun's precious people do you?"

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you Kami! I'm glad Haku has a sense of reason. But does she really like me like that?" Naruto thought.

"_**Kit how much more fucking obvious does it have to be for you?!" **_Kyuubi screamed out.

Minato heard Kyuubi's question and gave the demon fox an annoyed look that said, "Shut up already."

Naruto had a partially conflicted look on his face. "Okay I get what you mean, Haku-chan has a crush on me…but it's just…well…" Naruto blushed under his mask as took a quick glance at Hinata.

"_Don't tell me he's finally…"_

"_**Don't tell me he's finally…"**_

"I might be starting to…" Before Naruto could actually finish what he was going to say to an anticipating Minato and Kyuubi…

"Gain way!!" Kakashi and Iruka screamed as they were still trying to outrun Rin.

CRASH!!

Kakashi and Iruka, along with Rin, ran straight into Zabuza, Haku, Naruto, and Hinata. The end results weren't too pleasant. Especially since a pissed off Zabuza opted to not only send Iruka to the hospital in a worse condition than what he was already in but to also make Kakashi worse off as well.

End of Flashback

"Morning Haku-chan, Zabuza-san…" Naruto greeted the two.

"Good morning Naruto-kun." Haku said she tried to divert her eyes a little. Obviously she was still embarrassed from yesterday and was hoping that her father wouldn't be so blunt.

"Morning gaki, I'm assuming you're heading to the testing center?" Zabuza asked.

"Yup and where would you be heading?" Naruto asked Zabuza.

"Security detail gotta make sure there aren't any participants in the Exams messing around with shit." Zabuza said.

"What about you Haku-chan?"

"I'm going to be assisting Rin-san at the hospital, they're going to need more hands on deck now that the Exams are about to start."

"Well then hopefully you won't have to worry about me then now will you?" Naruto said with an eye-smile and a slightly cocky tone.

"Well…I hope not…" Haku whispered, somewhat expressing concern for Naruto's well being.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto met up with his team at the testing center. The building was flooding with genin cells from all over. Team 7 made they're way to the room 301, when they arrived they found a large crowd and the sound of arguing.

"You guys are pathetic." A genin with a bandana with a hitai-ate plate said.

SMACK!

The genin smacked a female genin dressed in a pink Chinese cheongsam-style shirt with a bun hair-style.

"Please we have to get through to take the Chunnin Exams." A genin with a bowl cut dressed in green spandex pleaded.

BAM!

The genin was punched by another genin who had a pair of large bladed weapons strapped to his back.

"Sorry but we're doing this for your own good. We've both taken the exams and failed. We're just doing you guys a favor by saving you from the humiliation of failure." The genin said cruelly.

"What are you guys idiots?" Naruto asked out loud.

Almost everyone stared at Naruto with either confused expressions or pissed off glares. Even Naruto's teammates were glaring daggers.

"What? Don't look at me like that." Naruto said. "I would understand the foreign nins not noticing but…almost every Konoha-nin has at least been in this building once or twice. This isn't room 301, because room 301 is on the third floor…this is the second floor." Naruto deadpanned to everyone in the hall.

Just about all the Konoha-nins had blank stares for a moment, and then quickly checked the floor map.

"NAAAAANNNNNNNiiiiiii!!" Everyone shouted in the building at once.

"_Bwaahahahahaha!!"_

"_**Ahahahahahahaha!!" **_Both Minato and Kyuubi broke out laughing.

"Che so you didn't notice the genjutsu, huh? Figures you wouldn't dobe. I'm pretty sure Sakura noticed that it was a genjutsu, right?" Sasuke asked Sakura.

"Oh…right! Yeah it's a genjutsu on the classroom sign to make it look like a different room number." Sakura said. **"Damn you Naruto!!" **Inner Sakura screamed out in anger.

She was still embarrassed and surprised by Naruto's observation and obvious fact that he had just made all the Konoha genin look like a bunch of blind idiots. With that said the genjutsu was dropped and everyone felt further humiliation as a result.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "Don't call me the dobe for not noticing the genjutsu. You wouldn't have had to find a damn genjutsu if you would have noticed that this wasn't the third floor." Naruto said to Sasuke.

"_Oh yeah you can tell he was caught with his pants down like everyone else." _

"_**Little punk bitch is just trying to save face." **_

While everyone was in a commotion from the little discovery, the two genin who started everything were surprised and pissed.

"Okay that wasn't apart of the plan." The one with the bandana said.

"Well too bad, so why don't you guys get out of our way?" Sasuke said with a cocky tone, even if it wasn't 201, the two genin were still in the way to get to the next floor.

"Sure I'll let you through, if you can get past me!" The genin with the bladed weapons on his back shouted as he delivered a roundhouse kick.

Sasuke responded with his own kick. Before either attack could connect a green blur stopped and held both Sasuke and the genin's legs. The green blur was the genin with the bowl cut and green spandex.

"Is that chakra in his arms? This isn't the same genin that was getting kicked around ealier." Sasuke thought as he looked at the arm that had caught his kick.

"He's fast; he was able to see the attack and slide himself between both and stop them altogether." Sakura thought.

Naruto looked a little nervous. "I can only assume he's the student of Kakashi's "rival."

"_Well he certainly looks like Gai when he was a genin. But Gai didn't always have the spandex."_

"_**Either way, that's way too much green and spandex for my own good." **_Kyuubi visibly shuddered.

"For once I agree with the furball." Naruto thought.

As the spandex-nin let go of the legs he had caught. His teammates stepped up, this including the girl with the bun hair-style and a familiar Hyuuga. Naruto immediately started to grit his teeth underneath his mask. The Hyuuga gave off an arrogant smirk when he saw Naruto.

Even after Hinata had told Naruto everything, the blonde still had a strong dislike for the Hyuuga. He understood that the events that befell Neji were horrible and he had every right to be pissed. But to take the anger out on Hinata, who really didn't have any direct involvement and the fact that everything was so far beyond her own control or choice, was just ridiculous to Naruto.

That being said was another reason that furthered Naruto's attachment to Hinata. She had to deal with a similar pain that he had to face. To be hated for something that couldn't be helped, was something all too familiar for Naruto. The blonde also took into consideration the possibility and from his own past experiences. That Neji may try to cause physical harm to Hinata if given the chance.

"If that bastard were to ever try to harm Hinata…I swear to Kami…I'll break him in two…" Naruto thought as Neji stepped in front of him.

Neji and Naruto just stared at each other for a while. Naruto's eyes were showing a hint of aggressiveness. Under his mask though, Naruto was baring his canines. Neji was still smirking. Obviously the Hyuuga was hoping for some kind of angered reaction from the blonde.

While Naruto and Neji were glaring craters into each other. Everyone could feel the tension between the two. The spandex-clad nin didn't pay attention to the staring contest of death. He had started blushing as soon as he saw a certain pink-haired kunoichi.

"Oh great Lee, hold on!" The kunoichi with the buns said as her teammate made his way over to Sakura.

"You're name is Sakura right? My name is Rock Lee…Let's go out together, I'll protect you till I die!" Lee said with a shiny and toothy smile, while giving a thumb up.

"Sorry…but no way, you're weird." Sakura said as Lee lowered his head in defeat.

While Lee was slouched, shot down and defeated. Neji and Naruto just stood facing each other. Everyone around was wondering what was going on and some were even hoping that the two would start to fight.

"So Naruto-san, I see that **you** **actually **made it to the Chunnin Exams. I suppose that's the good that comes out of leaving behind a failure to fend for her-self." Neji said.

Naruto restrained himself; he wasn't going to make the same mistake as before. "I didn't leave Hinata-chan…"

"Oh so you and her really are together, or together again. That might explain why she seemed a little less pathetic recently. You do have some sort of affect on her." Neji said making it sound more like an insult than a compliment.

"You can run your mouth as much as you want ass-wipe. But when the time comes I'm gonna put my foot up your ass and leave my geta in it." Naruto said with restrained anger, almost sounding calm. Naruto walked past Neji, the blonde brought up his own hands and punched his fist to his open palm.

Neji gave off an angered smirk. "Come on Lee, Tenten, we're going."

"Wow those two really don't like each other; I could practically cut the tension between those two with a kunai." Tenten thought as Naruto took the lead and his teammates just followed.

XXXXXXXXXX

In a closed off room nearby, the two genin who had refused to let anyone into the disguised room 201. Both were observing the genin teams.

"A sort of embarrassing way to be found out I guess." The genin with the bandana said.

"Well at least Gai and Kakashi's teams still show much promise." Both genin made the sign for Kai.

POOF!  
POOF!

In the middle of the smoke that had materialized stood two Konoha Chunnin, they both smiled.

"It looks like the exams are going to be fun this year."

"Yeah, it looks that way."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Dobe did you know who that Hyuuga was?" Sasuke asked trying not to sound too interested.

"That was an asshole who I intend to beat the shit out of if he decides to run his mouth off like that again. And to answer your question more directly that assholes name is Neji Hyuuga." Naruto said slightly angered.

Team 7 made they're way to a rather open room. The stairs were nearby, Team 7 made their way over to it. Right when the genin got to the middle of the room a green blur landed in front of the team.

"Hello, my name is Rock Lee…" Lee stared at Sasuke for a moment. "You must be Sasuke Uchiha."

"Yeah, what do you want?" Sasuke asked.

"A fight, I want to test my skills against a member of a genius clan. Also…" Lee paused and stared at Sakura for a moment. Lee blushed a little and winked at Sakura.

"Those eye-brows are ewww! And that hair-style is so lame!!" Sakura screamed out in horror.

"You are an angel." Lee said as he blew Sakura a kiss.

Whether or not the heart that had shot out of Lee's lips was real is unknown. However Sakura did not want to take any chances, so she dodged it like it was a kunai hurled at her. The heart planted itself on the wall behind her.

"Hey don't throw weird things; people could've gotten hurt dammit!" Sakura screamed out at Lee.

"You don't have to be so mean." Lee said with a wide-eyed saddened expression.

"Alright, if you want a fight, then you'll get it." Sasuke interjected. "But you're making a big mistake taking me on; I'll show you why the Uchiha's are Konoha's elite."

Naruto could already tell this was going to turn out bad. "Um teme, you might wanna…"

Before Naruto could finish his warning Sasuke took off. It all seemed to have happened so fast. One moment Sasuke was getting kicked around, next the Sharingan is activated. And then Sasuke was in the air. Amazingly in the middle of the entire ass kicking Lee, was able to explain that he was using purely Taijutsu, and that even if the Sharingan could track down a fast opponent, it wouldn't matter if the user of the Sharingan couldn't match the speed.

Naruto quickly recognized the attacks being used. It was the same ones that Kakashi used to temporarily incapacitate Sasuke during the bell test. Only this one didn't seem as restrained and it looked like it was going to be an even bigger crater. The white bandages that Lee used as gloves started to unwrap. Lee while was in the air with Sasuke. The spandex-nin explained to Sasuke the difference between a gifted genius and a true hard worker.

"Oh man, dad is that jutsu going to kill the teme?" Naruto asked his father out of concern.

"_It can kill, but a student of Gai's wouldn't go that far. More likely the damage done will probably force Sasuke to take a leave from the exams." _

Almost out of thin air a pinwheel with a pointed tip shot through the air. The small object pierced Lee's bandage and stapled it to the wall. This prevented Lee from finishing his attack.

"That is…" Lee said, surprised but he knew what the pinwheel meant.

"That's it Lee!!" A large red tortoise with a Konoha Hitai-ate tied around his neck yelled out. Lee immediately pulled away and rolled in the air. He then gracefully landed on the ground, while Sasuke was left to plummet to the ground.

"What the hell is the teme doing?!" Naruto yelled out.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled out as she and Naruto ran to catch Sasuke. Both the genin caught and broke Sasuke's fall.

"Sasuke-kun are you alright?" Sakura asked while she checked Sasuke for any visible injuries.

"The teme could have landed on his feet. Don't tell me he was that shaken by the ass whopping he got?"

"_**The little punk is scared shitless because he's weak even with the Sharingan." **_

"_It's no surprise that Gai's student would know that little fact about the Sharingan."  
_Lee kneeled before the tortoise with an embarrassed and ashamed look on his face. The tortoise looked pretty upset with Lee.

"Lee!! That technique is forbidden!!" The turtle yelled out in a scolding manner.

"I'm sorry, I just…" Lee said trying to defend himself. "I wasn't going to use that one; I was just going to…"

"You fool!!" The turtle yelled out.

"You know the consequences for a shinobi to needlessly reveal and waste their most special techniques." Sasuke stared at the conversation going between the reptile and the thick-brows nin.

"I can't believe I lost to these weirdoes?" Sasuke thought grimly.

"Lee!! Are you prepared to face the consequences?!" The turtle asked.

"Yes…" Lee said in a sad tone.

"Then here comes Gai-sensei!!"

POOF!!

"You guys are the epitome of adolescence!!" A man wearing a nearly identical outfit to Lee's yelled out in the midst of the smoke.

At this point Naruto, Sakura, and even Sasuke were both completely shocked and disturbed. Even Minato and Kyuubi found themselves shocked.

"_Man his eyebrows have only gotten thicker since he was little."_

"_**That's just wrong…"**_

While Team 7 and Naruto's tenants were too disturbed to say anything, Gai proceeded to punch his student in the face. And then cry; yell out some apologies and speeches about youth. He then proceeded to hug his student to a background of a sunset at a beach with crashing waves.

"What the hell is that?! Some kind of genjutsu?!" Naruto screamed out.

"I honestly don't know my Sharingan can't see through it!" Sasuke screamed in horror.

"_That would be Gai's ultimate genjutsu. It's unnamed and cannot be avoided. I don't know how Gai did it, but when he first used it...Goddamn…all the Uchiha and Hyuuga were baffled by it. And all the genjutsu experts during the time were pulling out their own hair trying to figure out how it worked."_

"Guys I think we better get out of here before that genjutsu fry's our minds." Naruto said.

"In this rare fleeting moment, I agree with you." Sasuke said.

Team 7 was about to sneak past the student-sensei duo, when suddenly a voice was heard behind them.

"You youthful hipsters must be my eternal rival's students." Gai said with teeth shining brightly from his smile.

"He's…"

"Really…"

"Fast…"

Each of the genin said in shock and horror. At this point Team 7 could not escape the youthful jounin.

XXXXXXXXXX

When Team 7 finally escaped Gai and his youthful speech, the genin met with their jounin sensei once more. After being told by Kakashi about the whole team having to be willing to participate entirely to enter the Chunnin Exams, the jounin wished his team luck. Team 7 entered the test room and found them being glared at by a large number of the participants.

Sakura felt the pressure of all the opponents staring at her and her team, Sasuke felt it a little as well. Naruto having some past experiences with being glared at a lot decided he would make some first impressions to the competition.

"What the fuck are you guys staring at?" Naruto said loud enough for everyone to hear. Naruto's eyes showed nothing but seriousness and unwavering resolve, in short, Naruto's eyes said he wasn't going to be taken down by a bunch of staring eyes.

"_Real subtle son…of course your mother wasn't any better either. And I was "smart" enough to set off a bunch of fireworks in the middle of the exams." _

"Wow could you have been any louder? Are you trying to get all of these guys to set their sights on you?" A familiar boy and his canine companion showed up with his team. Behind him were Shino and Hinata.

Naruto ignored Kiba's comment and smiled happily under his mask, while giving Hinata an eye-smile. Hinata blushed a little at Naruto's body language. Naruto walked passed Kiba who was starting to get pissed for being ignored. Before Naruto could say anything to Hinata, the blonde made eye contact with Shino.

"Shino nice to see you." Naruto said calmly. Shino nodded in acknowledgement.

"Hey asshole I'm talking to you!" Kiba yelled at Naruto.

"It's nice to see you too Uzumaki-san, please excuse my teammate." Shino said calmly.

"No problem, maybe you should keep a muzzle on him." Naruto said jokingly, Kiba was sheathing in anger in the back.

"Funny you should say that, I had actually considered such an action a few times." Shino said calmly.

Naruto was about to say something else when a familiar lazy voice was heard. "Damn you guys are so troublesome. Keep this up all of those nins are gonna set there sights on our asses." Shikamaru said in his signature lazy tone.

XXXXXXXXXX

It only took a few minutes before everyone got into their own conversations or arguments. Kiba was bragging about how he could beat Sasuke and that a "dead last" like Naruto couldn't compete with him. Shino and Chouji were arguing over the subject of an insect that was about to be stomped on. Ino and Sakura were both fighting over Sasuke like usual, sorta. Sakura was actually a little calmer and slightly passive with the insults.

Naruto just watched the whole thing; he found it a little amusing. It reminded him of the old academy days. Out of the blue Naruto felt someone nudge his shoulder. It didn't take long for the blonde to realize who nudged him. Realizing that he had nearly forgotten Hinata was there beside him, the blonde nin felt like an idiot.

Naruto faced Hinata suddenly and quickly hugged her. "I am so sorry Tenshi-chan; I can't believe I forgot you were here." Hinata made an eep sound at the sudden hug.

"I-it's okay Naruto-kun…" Hinata said it was becoming a little bit easier for Hinata to stutter less with Naruto now.

Naruto smiled under his mask and held Hinata a little bit longer. The little scene of affection and Naruto's little nickname for Hinata didn't go unnoticed by their peers.

"Uzumaki-san, I had no idea you were so friendly with Hinata-san." Shino said with a cocked eye-brow, obviously he had found the whole thing amusing.

"Yeah I thought you had liked Sakura?" Kiba asked surprised by this scene.

Before Naruto or Hinata could say anything a nin wearing glasses with gray hair dressed in purple came up. He wore a Konoha hitai-ate but it was obvious he was older then the latter.

"Man you guys are loud. I heard a few of you complaining about keeping it down, but now all of you are louder than anyone here." The nin with the glasses said.

"And just who are you?" Naurto asked as he and Hinata separated.

"Yakushi Kabuto, and let me give you all some helpful advice. From one Konoha-nin to nine other Konoha-nins, everyone here is on the edge. So try not to make yourself a target." Kabuto said with a smile.

"Kabuto-san you sound like you've done this before. Have you participated in the Chunnin Exams before?" Sakura asked.

"As a matter of fact I have. Several times to be exact and this would be my fourth year going at it." Kabuto said informatively.

Before anyone could comment on the number of times Kabuto participated in the exams. The gray haired nin mentioned how the number of attempts benefited him with important data. That he kept collected in a two-hundred-card deck, which could only display vital information if Kabuto's chakra was focused into it. After displaying some information on the villages that were in the exams and getting on the subject of a newly formed small village called "Otogakure no Sato" (Hidden Sound Village), Sasuke decided to ask about individual information.

"Do you have information on individual nins?" Sasuke asked.

"Sure thing, I got information on just about everyone here, it's not fully accurate though. Anyone in particular you want to look up." Kabuto said.

"I want to know about Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee." Sasuke said with a serious tone.

"Okay then. First, Rock Lee, he's a year older than you guys, but this is his first time taking the test. He has completed twenty D-Rank and twelve C-Rank missions. His sensei is Maito Gai, and his teammates are Hyuuga Neji and Tenten. Taijutsu is excellent, but he's got no skill in genjutsu or ninjutsu."

As Kabuto finished giving the information on Rock Lee, Minato began to suspect something. _"Naruto be careful around that Kabuto. There's something off about him." _

"What makes you say that?" Naruto asked his father.

"_I maybe just jumping to conclusions here, but is something off about the information he seems to have acquired."_

"Alright dad, but it's probably nothing." Naruto said to his father, while Kabuto was about to get to Gaara.

"And last is Sabaku no Gaara. This is his first year as well, and he has completed eight C-Rank missions and one B-Rank. His sensei is Baki, and his teammates are Temari and Kankurou, who are incidentally his siblings as well. I don't have much info on him since he's new, but it's been said that he came back from every mission without a scratch."

Everyone was shaken up a little by that last bit of information. It was obvious that Gaara should be avoided. While this was going on, the nins who had spied on Naruto and Sasuke when they had met Gaara, were listening to the whole conversation.

"So he says Oto is a minor village, huh?" One of the nins said.

"Let's help with him with his data on Oto."

Out of the crowd of nins a kunai shot out at Kabuto. The nin dodged the kunai with some effort. Suddenly the Oto-nin with bandages wrapped around his face appeared in front of Kabuto, he swung his fist at Kabuto. Jumping back, Kabuto dodged the attack, but suddenly his glasses shattered. He then collapsed on his knees and threw up.

"What the hell, he dodged that attack how did he get injured?" Sasuke thought as Sakura ran over to check on Kabuto.

"Hold still Kabuto-san, let me check for anything serious." Sakura said.

Even though Sakura wasn't anywhere near Rin's skill or experience; she was proficient at the job. Looking over Kabuto, Sakura was surprised to find some damage done to Kabuto's ears.

"You have some damage to your eardrums but it isn't permanent from what I can tell." Sakura said to Kabuto.

"_It was a sound attack. That would explain why the glasses broke and him throwing up." _Minato said.

"You should put this down on your little cards; the nins of Otogakure are going to take this exam for all it's worth." One of the Oto-nins said.

Everyone watched the whole scene happen. Some of the nins had figured out what the attack that was used was, while others were still wondering. Before anything else could happen, there was a large burst of smoke in the front of the room.

POOF!!

When the smoke cleared a nin wearing a black trench coat wearing a sort of military style dress uniform underneath stood. Behind him were more than a dozen other Shinobi and Kunoichi who wore identical uniforms.

"Alright you worthless little shit's quiet down!!" The nin in the trench coat yelled out.

"I am Morino Ibiki; I am the examiner for the first test of the exams. You Oto-nins over there…" Ibiki pointed at the Oto-nins. "Had better stop doing as you please, less you want to fail before the exam even starts?"

"Sorry we got a little carried away for our first time." The Oto-nin with bandages wrapped around his face said.

XXXXXXXXXX

After getting the seating arrangements set up and the introductions done, everyone got seated. Naruto took his seat and much to his own surprise and pleasure Hinata was sitting next to him.

"We meet again Tenshi-chan." Naruto gave a joyful eye-smile.

Even though Naruto knew his father would be there to provide any kind of support for the nin when things got stressful, and to some extent even Kyuubi. If there was anyone at the moment Naruto would have liked to be there for him, it would be Hinata.

"I-I'm glad we're sitting t-together for t-the test." Hinata said with a nervous smile.

As Hinata took her seat next to Naruto, the blonde just kept smiling under his mask. Something suddenly came to mind for Naruto, it took him a while to realize it.

"Tenshi-chan you're not stuttering as much as you used to." Naruto said.

"I-I h-have?" Hinata asked her reaction had practically killed the observation Naruto made.

"Yeah…sorta…" Naruto said nervously, obviously it was a little too soon to point out the observation.

Hinata realized that she had been stuttering a lot less lately, though the sudden reaction may have changed Naruto's mind.

"Oh no I'm such an idiot, why did I do that. Naruto-kun just said I haven't stuttered as much and then I go and do that." Hinata thought sadly.

"I-I'm s-sorry Naruto-kun, I-I've been trying to stutter less a-and…" Hinata was panicked until she felt an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey it's alright, like someone close to me said, baby steps. You can't expect sudden improvements out of nowhere." Naruto said reassuringly.

"T-thank you Naruto-kun." Hinata said with a blush.

"See, new improvements." Naruto smiled.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ibiki started to explain the rules and procedures for the test. Everyone was brought up to speed on the rules about cheating and the penalty of losing points. Ibiki further explained that if one member of a team fails or is caught cheating more than once. The whole team would be dropped from the exams.

"Damn this isn't good; the dobe had better not fail this. His training with the Sandaime better has covered written tests." Sasuke thought, Sakura had a similar thought as well.

Everyone was getting ready for the test. The genin all stared at the test before them. Quite a few of the genin were sweating bullets. Others were pretty much nervous wrecks. Naruto wasn't panicking but he did feel uneasy and nervous at the moment.

"Oh boy this isn't good, I may have improved on a lot of areas while training with Oji-san but that doesn't mean I've gotten better on those damn written tests." Naruto thought grimly.

Hinata saw the look in Naruto's eyes and she understood why he had that look. "Oh no, written tests have always been Naruto-kun's weakness. He must be worried about failing." Hinata thought.

"We still have a few minutes before everyone is ready to take the test. I should say something to Naruto-kun, something to help reassure him. I know Naruto-kun can do it." An idea suddenly came to Hinata's mind, the young heiress blushed from the idea, but it wasn't necessarily the first time she did it.

"Naruto-kun are you okay?" Hinata asked Naruto was broken out his thoughts.

"Yeah I guess, just a little bit nervous and all. I might have trained under Oji-san for three months along with some other nins. But that didn't really do much for any of my academic skills; tests are still a pain the ass for me." Naruto said trying to make the statement sound like a joke, to try and hide the anxiety that was starting to build up.

"I-I know y-you will do f-fine Naruto-kun, but just f-for luck…" Hinata quickly reached for Naruto's scarf/mask and pulled it down a little so that the blonde's cheekbone was exposed.

Naruto felt soft lips touch his exposed skin. The blonde instantly blushed from the contact.

"N-now let's do o-our best." Hinata said nervously, her face was a few different shades of red.

Naruto just grinned under his mask. "Yeah let's do our best, thanks Hinata-chan…you really are an angel." Naruto said the last part he had whispered quietly.

XXXXXXXXXX

Only ten minutes into the test and most of the genin already realized that the test questions were ridiculously hard. All the questions required complex equations and some seemed like they didn't make any sense at all. Even the brainiacs of the academy were lost trying to figure out the answers, unless you were a certain lazy genius.

Among a certain number of these genin who found the test ridiculously hard. They had realized something that had stuck in their mind. The rules regarding cheating, to a select number of genin it had seemed strange that was to be absolutely no cheating. And yet they were told they would lose points for being caught cheating and only be failed after being caught three times.

It then snapped together for a lot of the genin. They were being told to cheat but not get caught. Figuring it out everyone decided to use their own methods to get the needed answers. Whether it was bloodlines, special ninjutsus, or little helpers, everyone was getting the answers their own way.

Naruto himself was no exception. After finally catching on to what was needed to be done to pass, after his father threw him a subtle hint. Naruto started to write some symbols on the back of his wrist with a small brush while he still held his pencil in his right hand.

"Man I hope this jutsu formula works." Naruto thought.

"_Don't worry son, you've had enough practice it should work." _Minato said reassuringly.

Naruto focused his chakra into the seals written on his wrist, he then picked out his targets.

"Well even with the practice I hope my chakra control doesn't fall through." Naruto said to himself.

One at a time, various genin in the room unknowingly had similar seals appear on the backs of their wrists. When they moved their hands to write so did Naruto. His hands moved accordingly to his target. Naruto had to repeat the process multiple times to get all the answers, since not one person was going at the same pace as anyone else.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he had finally gotten all the answers he needed. At one point Naruto thought he had been caught by one of the proctors but, it was only the genin behind him. Just as a precautionary measure Naruto erased the seals written on his wrist.

"Phew, I'm glad that's over with. Now I just got to wait for the end. So dad does that jutsu I used have a name?"

"_Not really, never really got around to naming it. After all I had other jutsus that I made that needed a name." _

"Yeah, making a name for a jutsu that can be used for a test isn't as important as making the name for a jutsu that gave you your title."

While Naruto waited for the last bits of time remaining to go by. Naruto remembered something that he needed to ask his dad.

"Hey dad, just wondering why did my eyes turn red when I was fighting that Ame-nin yesterday?"

"_Oh…that, well it's because you were pretty upset." _

"What do you mean; my eyes only turn red when I use furballs chakra. And that only happens when you release his chakra, right?"

"_That would be half right son. See the thing is there were a few things I still haven't mentioned about me being the seal."_

"Okay and that would be?"

"_Well…of course I have control over the flow of Kyuubi's chakra. Thing is though I'm not the only one who has control. See as you get older, you're supposed to gradually gain your own control over furball's chakra. I can still send you furball's chakra and also cut the flow as well. But when you call it up on your own only you can sever the power, at the moment however you're ability to call up Kyuubi's chakra is more focused on your emotional state."_

"Emotional state…?"

"_From what I could tell yesterday it had to do with your anger. If you are angry enough you will begin to draw on the Kyuubi's chakra. Now this isn't really a good thing though." _

"How so?"

"_Well as long as I'm around furball can't influence you or try to take control. However since you can unintentionally draw demonic chakra from anger, this means you maybe a danger to those around you."_

"How?!" Naruto asked he actually shook physically.

"_Calm down son, see the thing is when using enough of fuball's chakra. You already know that you can become feral. You're in pretty good control when you're like that however, if you're angry that maybe a different story."_

"I guess that just means I'll have to avoid getting to upset then, huh?" Naruto said.

XXXXXXXXXX

Time was up and it was pencils up. Ibiki took a look at all of the participants and saw that a good number were now gone, do to their terrible ability to gather information without being noticed.

"Now then before I give you the final question, you all must choose whether or not you want to take it…"

"What happens if we don't take it?" Kiba asked.

"You fail and so does your team…" Ibiki said.

"What the hell is the point of taking the test then?!" Temari yelled out.

"Well the thing is, if you fail to answer the last question, you will fail but you will be stuck as a genin forever." Ibiki said.

Everybody was visibly shocked. Some of the genin started to raise their hands afraid of failing and being stuck as genin forever.

Naruto himself started to raise his hand, until he suddenly smacked his hand back down. Hard enough to make cracks on the wood, everyone stared in disbelief.

"You don't scare me one bit, I'm going to become the next Hokage. Nothing will get in my way, especially not some test Mr. Scarface." Naruto said with a confident tone, Hinata stared in admiration at Naruto. Others merely smirked and figured Naruto would do something like that.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Congratulations you all passed." Ibiki said with a smile.

"I wonder if this counts as calling a bluff." Naruto thought as he remembered his little declaration of not failing a few minutes ago.

"_I suppose it would."_

"Dad did you know about this the whole time?"

"_Yeah I did, I couldn't tell you everything you know. It would ruin the purpose of you learning this stuff." _

"I guess…"

CRASH!!

Some sort of large object crashed through one of the windows in the room. The object landed in front of Ibiki and kunai flew out. The sharp weapons stuck to the ceiling and floor opening up to reveal itself as a banner and standing in front was a woman with purple hair. She wore an oversized beige trench coat, with a fishnet shirt and miniskirt.

"No time to celebrate maggots, because the Second Examiner is here!!" The woman yelled out while pointing to her banner. "I am Mitarashi Anko, Second Examiner of the Chunnin Exams!"

It was dead silence for a whole minute, even Naruto found him self perplexed by the entrance.

"_My, she looks just like her mother now and she really takes after her idol."_

"Her idol, and who would that be exactly?" Naruto asked his father.

"_Anko did have a Sannin for a sensei but there was one woman she always admired…the one woman who could beat a double S-rank nin with just a few words…your mother…" _

Naruto suddenly collapsed his head on to the desk in front of him.

"_**So that's why she acts like your son? Che, well personality aside I'd have to say, she looks like one hell of a delectable treat I'd like to gobble up." **_Kyuubi said with a perverted voice.

"Shut up…"

"_Shut up…"_

Both Naruto and Minato said at the same time. While Naruto and his tenants had a little argument, Ibiki looked at his fellow Special Jounin with regret.

"That woman's gonna be the death of me one day." Ibiki thought.

"Twenty-six teams?! Ibiki you're losing your touch." Anko said in both an angered and disappointed tone.

"On the contrary we just have some real promising genin this year is all." Ibiki said.

"Oh well…" Anko looked at the genin before her and grinned mischievously. "When I'm through with them, it'll be half."

AN: _There you guys go another chapter. If you're wondering why I skipped so many conversation scenes or the explanations of the tests, well I don't wanna go into detail about it. Too much time wasted I suppose._


	13. Forest of Death

AN: _Glad everyone liked the fluff with the last chapter. Oh and I've decided to drop Ino from the harem. She'll be paired up with Chouji._

_On another note, I graduate from High-school today, yay! Man I'm glad I'm done with that._

Chapter 12: Forest of Death

Today would begin the second part of the Chunnin Exams. All the genin teams stood in front of a large fenced off area. It appeared to be a forest, but the trees were massively huge. Among the teams standing before this massive fenced area, was Team 7.

"This place is pretty creepy." Sakura said out loud.

"Well you'll all find out why this place is called the "Forest of Death." Anko said with a menacing smirk.

Naruto for a moment looked irritated. "Oh come on, can we get on with the exam already?" Naruto said eager to move on.

"My, aren't you spirited…" Anko looked at Naruto with a grin, in one quick motion Anko threw a kunai at Naruto.

"Shit!" Naruto thought as he jerked his head to the side to quickly dodge the kunai. The sharpened weapon embedded itself in the ground near some nins.

Faster than most people could track, Anko was behind Naruto. The kunoichi pulled down the side of Naruto's mask so his cheek was exposed. Before Naruto could realize what was happening, Anko used another kunai and made a cut across Naruto's cheek.

It wasn't a deep cut but it was visible and had a steady stream of blood dripping down. Anko had her right hand hold the side of Naruto's head and her left hand that was holding the kunai resting on the blonde's shoulder.

"Kids like you die quickly…" Anko giggled as she leaned against Naruto's back. "Spraying that blood I love."

Naruto could feel two things against his body right now. The blonde could feel Anko's chest pressed against his back and her wet tongue licking up his blood and wound. Although Naruto had a serious unaffected look on his face, the blush said otherwise.

XXXXXXXXXX

Everyone watched in amazement. Some of the male nins had perverted thoughts run through their heads. Some of the kunoichi thought Anko had a thing for younger guys. One kunoichi in particular was just about ready to kill someone.

"W-what the hell is she doing!? Why is she doing that to Naruto-kun?! If she doesn't stop doing that I'll make her stop!!" Hinata thought angrily, even though she had a normal look on her face, on the inside she was a raging tempest.

XXXXXXXXXX

Anko continued on with a few more soft licks. She smiled happily; she almost looked like a child who was enjoying a lollipop. Naruto himself decided that this was enough, the blonde made a whistle sound to get Anko's attention.

"You seem to like blood, ever thought about trying out your own." Naruto said, while Anko felt something tapping against her stomach.

The Special Jounin looked down to see a kodachi with its tip tapping against her stomach. The whole time that Anko was "cleaning" Naruto's wound. He had used his left hand to pull out the bottom of his Bo staff.

"The kid isn't half-bad. Well he is Kushina-sama's son. He's got her fiery spirit. Oh well, I was gonna have to stop eventually, hehheh, I guess Kushina-sama would be trying to kill me from beyond the grave right now, if she's watching this." Anko thought.

Before Anko could say anything or do anything, she instinctively raised her kunai to a presence behind her. To everyone's surprise…and disturbance, a nin from "Kusagakure no Sato" (Hidden Grass Village) held a kunai with his…tongue.

"I'm sorry you dropped this." The Kusa-nin said.

"Why thank you, but don't do that again unless you want to die?" Anko said with a smile.

"Sorry I just got a little excited from the blood and you cut my hair with that kunai." The Kusa-nin said.

XXXXXXXXXX

Everybody was brought up to speed on what the rules were and what was needed to be done. Everyone was told about the need to acquire a "Heaven Scroll" or "Earth Scroll." The target area was the center of the forest where the final destination was. All the teams were then told of the total time limit and everyone had to sign death wavers.

While each member of a genin cell went to hand over the signed wavers and receive their scrolls. Naruto went over to where Hinata was and found Shino standing nearby; it looked like Kiba was the one to go get Team 8's scroll. Shino saw Naruto approaching and knew he was hear to see Hinata.

Shino started walk over to where Kiba was and gave Naruto a friendly nod. "Uzumaki-san good to see you, I hope you do well in this exam."

Naruto eye-smiled, he was really starting to like Shino now. "Thank you, best of luck to you too Aburame-san."

"Y-you and Shino-san a-are getting a-along, I'm g-glad." Hinata said with a smile.

"Yeah Shino always was pretty damn quiet. But he's pretty cool, plus we both find Kiba annoying." Naruto said with a smile.

Hinata giggled a little. "Naruto-kun, please d-don't talk about Kiba-san l-like that."

Naruto only smiled. "For you anything…for him, well he might get hurt." Naruto said jokingly.

"N-naruto-kun…" Hinata said his name in a little bit of scolding manner.

"Just joking…" Naruto said with another eye-smile.

Hinata just stared at Naruto; suddenly she remembered what had happened to Naruto earlier, much to her own displeasure and anger.

"N-naruto-kun, l-let me check your c-cut." Hinata said as she pulled out a small jar and some bandages.

"Huh?" Naruto said not knowing what Hinata was talking about.

"_Son she means the cut you got from Anko."_

"Crap…that cut has already healed…" Naruto thought with a grim expression.

"W-what's wrong Naruto-kun? If w-we don't treat that cut it could g-get infected." Hinata said worried.

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "I was gonna have to tell everything, might as well tell her about my "healing factor." But I'll explain everything else later."

"Well see the thing is…it's already healed." Naruto said as he pulled his mask down to show almost no visible sigh of a cut.

"B-but how did y-your cut heal s-so fast?" Hinata asked surprised.

"All I can say right now is that I heal fast…I don't have all the time right now to explain. I'll tell you about it when I get the chance, okay?" Naruto said trying not to sound nervous.

"O-okay I understand, y-you can t-tell me when the time comes." Hinata said.

Naruto couldn't help but smile; Hinata trusted him and was willing to wait. This was another of the reasons Naruto was growing so attached to Hinata.

"Anyway good luck on the exam and take care of your self…" Naruto said as he enveloped Hinata in a hug.

"I-I will Naruto-kun, I think w-we should stick t-together if w-we run into e-each other." Naruto smiled under his mask, an idea suddenly came to mind for Naruto. The blonde was considering paying Hinata back for her support earlier during the test and for her willingness to wait. Naruto blushed a little at the thought but he would go through with it in the end.

"That's a good idea…" Naruto then quickly pulled his mask down and kissed Hinata on the forehead. "…I think we should do that. And thanks for the support from yesterday and for waiting." Naruto grinned, Hinata nearly collapsed.

"N-naruto-kun, h-he kissed me on the f-forehead. And i-it was on purpose too. I-I think I can die happy now." Hinata thought, her mental state showed she was in bliss.

XXXXXXXXXX

After everyone got what they needed Anko gave the signal and every team at their designated gate took off. Everybody had their own thoughts and plans for the objective ahead of them. Every team sped off into the darkness of the "Forest of Death." The sounds of screaming could be heard already, it was obvious some of the teams were already falling to other teams or the inhabitants of the forest.

"Hey guys I'm gonna go and check something out alright?" Naruto said as he started to walk off.

"Well don't get lost dobe, last thing I need to do is have to find you." Sasuke said.

"Yeah don't get lost Naruto, we really shouldn't get separated." Sakura said, making it sound less of an order and more like advisement.

"Sounds like Sakura-san is starting to be nicer to me. Guess I have Rin-chan to thank for that." Naruto thought.

Sasuke and Sakura watched as Naruto walked in a different direction. After a few minutes Naruto returned.

"So dobe did you find anything?" Sasuke asked.

"Nope I didn't find anything Sasuke." Naruto said.

"Oh alright then we should get going." Sakura said.

"Sure thing…" Naruto smiled and winked at Sakura.

Both Sakura and Sasuke knew something was off about Naruto. This proved it. In an instant Sakura had punched Naruto in the face with a chakra enhanced fist, the power of the hit wasn't anywhere near the strength of a certain kunoichi. But the punch still had a lot of power behind it. Saskue followed up with a kick to the side of the head. Naruto was propelled back and then to the side, smashing into a tree.

POOF!

Naruto burst into smoke to reveal a nin wearing a diving suit with diving mask and goggles. His hitai-ate indicated he was from Ame. Before the imposter could get up, the tip of Sasuke's ninjato was pressed against the Ame-nin's jugular.

"How did you know?"

"Two things gave you away, one you called me by my first name. The dobe never calls me by my first name." Sasuke said.

"And two you winked at me, Naruto doesn't have a thing for me, at least not anymore." Sakura said.

"You probably should've observed us for just a little bit longer rather then jump ahead." The real Naruto said as he stepped out his heading spot.

"Boy you have some convenient timing dobe." Sasuke said sounding rather sarcastic.

Naruto walked over to the Ame-nin and punched him out cold; he then checked the nins pouches and pockets. "Jackpot…" Naruto said as he pulled out an Earth Scroll.

"It looks like we're set." Sasuke said with a smile.

"That was pretty fast." Sakura said surprised.

"Well now all we gotta do is get to that building and we're good." Naruto said with an eye-smile.

"How's about I keep the Heaven scroll so in case someone gets the jump on us we won't lose both scrolls?" Naruto asked.

"Not bad dobe, fine we'll do that, unless you have any objections?" Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at Sakura, the question sounding more like Sakura's opinion was needed to be heard rather then implying she might have any problem with the idea.

"No not at all, this sounds like a good idea." Sakura said calmly.

XXXXXXXXXX

Now that Team 7 had both scrolls needed, it was time to head to their final destination. To avoid anyone else sneaking up on the team, Naruto had summoned multiple Kage Bunshins to form a perimeter around his team. If anyone had decided to attack a bunshin, Naruto would know about it once the information came back to him. Of course at the moment Naruto's team didn't know about the bunshins. Also they were doing their best to not be detected by anyone.

A few of the bunshins had wondered off from the group. Their intention was to find any teams or threats Team 7 might run into. The bunshins would disburse themselves if they ran into any kind possible threat for Team 7. One bunshin in particular heard the screams of a team of genin that were taken down by large leeches. The bunshin kept his distance and watched as the team responsible for the attack picked up a scroll.

The bunshin smiled as he realized that the team retrieving the scroll was Team 8. "So it looks like Tenshi-chan and her team has been successful as well." The bunshin said with a smile.

The bunshin watched as Team 8 argued whether or not to ambush another team to take their scrolls as well, so that there would be less competition. Before the bunshin new it everything happened so fast. A team of Ame-nins encountered the Suna team. Team 8 and the bunshin from a distance watched the battle. Though to be exact it wasn't a battle but a one-sided slaughter.

Using sand manipulation, Sabaku no Gaara of the Suna team easily killed and mangled all of the Ame-nins even after surrendering. The bunshin observed the Suna team and Team 8 from a further distance. Soon the bunshin realized that even though Team 8 was hiding, Gaara was still able to sense them. If Team 8 didn't leave then, they would be killed by Gaara.

"I gotta get Naruto here right away." The bunshin thought as he stabbed himself with a kunai, bursting into smoke.

XXXXXXXXXX

Team 7 continued on their path, until Naruto suddenly stopped. The memory of the bunshin observing Team 8 entered Naruto's mind. Immediately understanding what was about to happen. Naruto took off without hesitation.

"Dobe where the hell do you think you are going?!" Sasuke yelled out as Naruto ran off.

"I got something I need to take of; you and Sakura-san take care of yourselves for now. I need to go!" Naruto yelled out taking off.

"Damn the dobe is faster then I gave him credit for." Sasuke said as he saw the speed Naruto possessed.

"Sasuke-kun shouldn't we follow him?" Sakura asked.

"We should but he's already long gone. And as much as I hate admit it…the dobe can take care of him self. Besides we have time, we have both the scrolls."

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was pumping as much chakra as he could into his feet; the blonde was going as fast as he could.

"_Son you sure it was a good idea to leave your team behind like that?"_

"They can take care of themselves. Judging by the looks of what Gaara is capable of, if my team came with me they would only be in danger. That Gaara is something else."

"_So what's your plan of attack?"_

"Strongest jutsu I got in my arsenal is the Chidori. If that doesn't work then I'll use furball's chakra, Demon chakra versus Demon chakra." Naruto said.

XXXXXXXXXX

Team 8 didn't know what to do. They were found by the Suna team, if it was Kankurou or Temari, Team 8 could've handled it. But Gaara was a different story.

"Kaa-san isn't satisfied with the blood from earlier, she wants more." Gaara said his killing intent could be felt from a wide range.

Hinata was trembling in fear. Kiba couldn't move and Akamaru was whimpering in fear. Even Shino couldn't maintain his cool and calm expression anymore; all of the "Kikaichu" inside of him were in disarray.

Gaara stared at Team 8, he then summoned his sand. The body of sand in the shape of a large tendril started to move towards the genin. Suddenly a fast moving object sliced through the air. Gaara's sand defensively caught the object.

"What the hell was that?!" Kiba yelled out.

Everyone looked at what Gaara's sand had just caught. It was a Windmill Shuriken, though the real surprise was what was attached all over the large throwing weapon. Almost a dozen explosive tags were all around it.

"You guys get down now!" Naruto shouted to Team 8, and they did just that.

BOOOM!!

The explosion was massive and large amounts of debris and dust clouds were kicked up. Naruto jumped and landed in front of Team 8. The blonde was breathing hard; obviously it had to do with the near panicked frenzy of a run he made.

"You guys get the hell out of here! Get as far away you can now!" Naruto shouted as he drew out his twin kodachi.

Even before anyone could confirm Gaara's status, Naruto was ready to fight. Despite his legs feeling like they were about to fall apart from all the running he and jumping he did. The blonde wasn't going to let anything happen to Hinata or her team.

"N-naruto-kun!" Hinata said surprised that her love came to her rescue once more.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Kiba shouted out.

"I'm here to protect Hinata-chan and keeping your asses from getting killed, now get out the hell out of here now! I don't know how long I'll be able to hold him off!" Naruto said before he was suddenly rammed into by a body of sand.

"Naruto-kun!!" Hinata screamed out in horror.

"Uzumaki!!" Gaara yelled out.

Naruto's body was slammed against a tree as more sand poured onto him. Hinata was about to run forward to try and help Naruto but her teammates kept her back for her own safety.

"Go, go, go!" A Naruto bunshin screamed out as a dozen of them jumped out from above.

Using their staffs and kodachi, the bunshins attacked the sand. Stopping the flow of sand, Naruto fell from the tree and landed on all fours. Hinata struggled to get past her teammates to help Naruto. But they continued to keep her back.

"Let go of me I have to help him!" Hinata once more struggled to break free. Her teammates found it particularly hard to keep her restrained.

Naruto got back on his feet and saw that Team 8 was still around. "What the hell are you waiting for go dammit!" Naruto yelled out.

"B-but Naruto-kun we can't just…" Hinata was cut off.

"I'll be okay, I promise you! And I never go back on my promises…now get going!" Naruto yelled out as he charged towards Gaara, the last of Naruto's bunshins having been wiped out by Gaara's sand.

Although Hinata absolutely refused to leave behind Naruto, she believed that Naruto would make it back. Team 8 took off. Naruto smiled underneath his mask, he knew Hinata would be safe.

Meanwhile

…with Team 7…

Sasuke and Sakura couldn't move. They were paralyzed by fear. The killing intent was so intense that Sasuke and Sakura could see the image of their own deaths. Both of them collapsed on their knees.

"Like I said this is a fight to the death." The androgynous Kusa-nin said.

"This is bad; everything went to shit really fast. This guy is going to kill us." Sasuke thought panicked.

"I can't move…this guy is something else. I never felt anything like this before." Sakura thought.

"**Dammit Sakura, get up and fight this bastard, what are you waiting for?" **Inner Sakura screamed out.

"But he, he's…" Sakura tried to say something but she was cut off.

"**He's what? Too strong, scary?! Don't give yourself this crap. You were expected to run into this kind of trouble dammit! What was the point of training with Rin? What was the point of trying to become stronger? You want to help your team right?! Then get up off your ass and do something!" **

"But Sasuke-kun he's…" Sakura was once more cut off.

"**He's scared too I know that. But who wouldn't be. It's facing this problem that matters. You can't always expect Sasuke or even Naruto to always come to your rescue. You don't want to be a burden do you? You wanna show Sasuke you're not a burden, you wanna show him you truly care. Then it's about time for you to do some rescuing!" **

The Kusa-nin started to walk towards Sasuke and Sakura. Brandishing a kunai, the Kusa-nin licked his lips. He was ready to attack when suddenly a shuriken was hurled at him; the androgynous nin dodged the weapon easily. He stared at the person who threw it. Much to his surprise it was Sakura, she was breathing erratically and had some tears streaming down her face but she was struggling to get on her feet.

"She has some spunk, oh well I have no need for her. She'll just be an annoyance for me later." The Kusa-nin thought as he readied his weapon.

Sasuke himself who was still on the ground he was surprised to see Sakura struggling to fight back. He then saw that the Kusa-nin had an amused look on his face. Suddenly he prepared to throw his kunai.

"No Sakura!!" Sasuke tried to scream out but his action only remained as a thought, he could barely speak.

Everything suddenly seemed too slowed down for Sasuke. He couldn't let Sakura die, despite how he made himself appear uncaring. Sakura was still his teammate; even if he didn't reciprocate the feelings that Sakura had for him. He still cared for her well being.

"Dammit I have to do something or else that freak will kill Sakura but I can barely stand…" Sasuke struggled, he wanted to get up. But the fear still had its grip on him. Suddenly a memory, voice popped into his head. Sasuke realized he had been in a situation like this before.

Flashback

A young Uchiha Sasuke stood before his older brother Uchiha Itachi. He once looked up to the man with admiration and sometimes jealousy. But now he cowered in fear before his brother. A shocked and horrified expression was grafted on Sasuke's face along with tears.

His brother had just killed everyone in the Uchiha clan, including their mother and father. Fearing for his own life, the young Uchiha feared his brother would kill him as well. Out of fear Sasuke ran, he ran as fast as he could. He didn't know what to do; this was something children were never expected to deal with. As he ran, Sasuke found his brother standing before him. Itachi had told why he did it, why he killed them all. He then started to explain why he would let Sasuke live.

"In that case…there would be a reason to let you live." Itachi said before his brother.

"It would be worthless to kill someone like you. My foolish brother…If you want to kill me…curse me! Hate me! And live a long and unsightly life…run away…run away…and cling to your pitiful life. And some day, when you have the same "eyes" as me, come before me." Itachi said as he stared at Sasuke with his Mangekyo Sharingan.

End of Flashback

"No I refuse to let it happen again. I'm not going to let fear stop me…not again!" Sasuke yelled out this time his voice being heard.

Before Sakura could close her eyes to the sharpened piece of metal thrown at her, something appeared in front of her.

"S-sasuke-kun?" Sakura said surprised by his appearance.

"Never again…" Sasuke said as blood dripped down to the ground. "Never again…" Sasuke gripped the kunai he had caught with his left hand.

"I won't stand by in fear again and do nothing…" Sasuke tossed the kunai aside, his Sharingan flared up.

"Never again!!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto jumped around, he did back flips and front flips, and he did whatever he could to dodge the sand that came crashing down on him. Naruto used his twin kodachi to swipe the sand that came at him. His attacks only served to slow down the sand as it would quickly reform and come at him again.

"This Gaara is something else. He isn't even moving he's just letting his sand do all the work!" Naruto thought dodging another body of sand that came after him.

If not for Naruto's unorthodox fighting style he may not have been able to dodge the sand. He would've been killed like Gaara's other victims. Both Temari and Kankurou watched in shock as Naruto continued to fight Gaara.

"What the hell is wrong with this kid, is he fucking out of his damn mind?!" Kankurou yelled. Both he and his sister were a safe distance away watching the fight. They knew how much collateral damage Gaara could do if he was pushed hard enough in a fight.

"That girl must've been that important to him." Temari said amazed and shocked.

Naruto jumped back and sheathed his kodachi. He then drew out multiple shuriken and threw them at Gaara. The blonde quickly went through a set of seals.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!!" (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)

The handful of shuriken quickly multiplied into a cloud of sharpened metal. The bladed weapons were stopped by a wall of sand. All of the shuriken was sucked into the sand as it formed into a pillar that came head on towards Naruto.

"Shit!" Naruto shouted he quickly went through another set of seals.

"Katon: Dai Endan!!" Naruto inhaled, he poured in and concentrated as much chakra as he could into the jutsu.

Naruto exhaled and shot out a massive fireball that collided head on with the mass of sand. The heat and fire was so intense that the front portion of the sand melted and became a large chunk of glass with partially melted pieces of metal inside it. Naruto grinned a little, however the attack failed to melt all of the sand as it quickly came at him.

"Oh crap!" Naruto shouted as he was once more slammed into by the sand.

"Now you die Uzumaki!" Gaara yelled out as he moved his hands. "Sabaku Kyuu!!(Sand Coffin)"

"Shit! Dad!" Naruto yelled out mentally as he was swallowed up by the sand.

"_Naruto hold on!!" _

Right when the sand completely engulfed Naruto, a massive chakra spike could be felt. Before Gaara could finish his attack, the mass of sand blew up from the inside out. Red chakra could be seen glowing ferociously.

"No way, this is impossible!!" Kankurou shouted.

"No one has ever been able to break out of Gaara's Sabaku Kyuu!" Temari yelled out, shocked by what just happened.

Naruto stood on his feet staring at Gaara. His eyes were now blood with red with slits. His canines elongated into fangs and his nails were now claws. Red chakra formed around Naruto into the shape of a fox with one tail.

"I made a promise I would be okay, I'm not going to break that. I'm not going to die today!" Naruto said.

XXXXXXXXXX

Team 8 had already gained some distance between them and Gaara. They were leaping through the trees not wanting to slow down. Hinata every few moments would glance back. She was worried about Naruto and was fighting the urge not to run back to the sight that Naruto was fighting in.

"Do not worry Hinata-san; I'm pretty sure Uzumaki-san is alright. He wouldn't have told us to go unless he couldn't have handled the situation." Shino said reassuringly, he knew that if given the chance Hinata would go running back to Naruto.

Before Hinata could say anything a strong chakra spike was felt. Everyone right then and there knew where the spike in power came from. It was where Naruto was fighting Gaara.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled out. "I'm going back!" Hinata said as she immediately turned around and headed back to the fight as fast as she could. Shino and Kiba couldn't stop Hinata in time and had to give chase.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sasuke charged up the side of one of the massive trees that filled the Forest of Death. Behind him was the Kusa-nin hot on his tail. Sasuke turned around and hurled a combination of shuriken and kunai. The Kusa-nin's body movements were almost like a snake. He was a blur moving in a snake like trail, dodging the weapons.

"Dammit…at least I got him away from Sakura." Sasuke thought as he landed on a tree trunk.

"Over here Sasuke-kun!" The Kusa-nin said as he ran up from behind Sasuke.

A flurry of kicks and punches were exchanged between the two. Most of Sasuke's attacks were blocked by his opponent, while Sasuke himself used his Sharingan to dodge the attacks sent back at him.

"I can see it; I can see his attacks coming at me. I have to keep my speed up." Sasuke thought as he jumped back and formed some seals.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!!" Sasuke fired off one fireball after another at his opponent who was dodging them with blinding speed.

Even with his speed being used to dodge Sasuke's attacks, the androgynous nin was still being tracked by Sasuke's Sharingan.

Sasuke jumped into the air ready to meet his opponent drawing out his ninjato. While midair Sasuke swung his blade. His opponent in front of him surprised that Sasuke had so quickly anticipated where he was going to go, blocked the blade with a kunai. Sasuke smirked, not wanting to waste any chance at victory. Sasuke before he hit ground delivered a kick to his opponents head.

The Kusa-nin used his unoccupied hand and blocked the attack. But the kick had enough force to still knock away the nin. Losing his balance for a moment the nin found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of sword strikes.

"Ku, ku, ku, Sasuke-kun shows much promise with the sword. Though he isn't a big enough threat to me at the moment for me to have to use my Kusanagi." The Kusa-nin thought.

Sasuke continued to force his opponent back with his blade. The Kusa-nin decided that Sasuke was getting too close with his blade. So he jumped to another nearby tree trunk. Seeing his opportunity, Sasuke stabbed his blade into the trunk he was standing on. He then drew out three large shuriken and hurled them.

Before the Kusa-nin knew it, he was bound to the body of a tree by wires that were attached to Sasuke's shurikens. Bound to the tree, the nin couldn't do anything to break free. Sasuke held one of the wires in his teeth.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!!"

Sasuke concentrated and a massive stream of fire shot through the wires that bound his opponent to the tree. The nin screamed as he was set to a massive blaze. Sasuke's opponent was being incinerated.

XXXXXXXXXX

Gaara wanted to kill Naruto; he wanted to kill him so that his "mother" would have his blood. Gaara didn't really care what kind of abilities his opponent would have. Because it never really mattered, they would be dead. That would apply for past fights, not this time. For the first time Gaara was fighting an opponent who was faster than his sand and physically strong enough to counter his sand attacks.

"You're going down Gaara!" Naruto shouted.

Naruto smashed through Gaara's sand. Gaara summoned multiple tendrils of sand to try and stop Naruto. But the blonde nin kept charging forward. Smashing though all of the attacks.

"Suna Shigure!!(Sand Shower)" Gaara formed a wall of sand in front of him, the wall then started to discharge a barrage of sand clumps at Naruto.

A good number of the attacks were taken head on by Naruto. The chakra formed around his body in the form of a fox minimized the damage taken. Right when Naruto was about to run into the wall of sand, he disappeared. Before Gaara knew it, Naruto was behind him.

"He's so fast!" Kankurou said as he saw the blonde disappear and reappear behind his younger brother.

Gaara turned around just in time to be met with Naruto's claws. Large gashes that were Naruto's claw marks appeared crossed on Gaara's face and upper body. Much to Naruto's surprise, Gaara's wounds didn't bleed at all. Instead it looked like his skin was cracking.

"Gaara is actually being forced to use his "Suna no Yoroi" (Armor of Sand). Just who is this guy?!" Temari said.

A moment of surprise and hesitation from Naruto gave Gaara an opening. The Suna-nin summoned up more sand and quickly engulfed Naruto in another Sabaku Kyuu, before Naruto could break out. Gaara concentrated on the sand.

"Sabaku Sousou!!(Desert Funeral)" The sand constricted and practically blew up.

"Is he dead?" Kankurou asked.

Gaara was expecting to find blood. But he didn't, instead he was met with a bone crushing punch to the face.

BAM!

The force of the attack further cracked Gaara's sand armor. The Suna-nin flew back and crashed into the base of a tree. Naruto stood, he was exhausted. Even though the charka surrounding his body absorbed a good amount of the attack, he was still fazed from it. Naruto was starting to show signs of exhaustion.

Gaara stepped out of the impact crater he made from smashing into the tree. He was grinning maniacally at Naruto. It almost seemed like he was happy.

"Yes! Yes! I've never felt so alive! You are helping me prove my existence!" Gaara said taking deep breaths. "Kaa-san knows of who is inside of you now. She can't wait to kill you and him!" Gaara said.

"_**Oh shit it looks like Shukaku knows." **_

"Kaa-san is getting impatient, but I have to buy a little bit of time." Gaara said as formed some seals and sand started to gather around him.

Naruto didn't know what was happening but he wasn't going to chance anything. "I'm not gonna let you have more time Gaara!" Naruto yelled out as he charged forward.

Naruto launched a strong punch at Gaara. The Suna-nin's sand right then and there finished forming. Naruto's fist smashed into a solid sphere of sand. There was enough force behind Naruto's punch that the sphere cracked just a little.

But before Naruto could follow up to the attack, multiple spikes shot out of the sphere. "Shit!" Naruto said as the spikes collided with his chest and stomach. The red charka blocked most of the spikes, only one or two of the spikes broke through and stabbed Naruto. The rest of the spikes served to push back Naruto as far as possible.

"No, Gaara is using the "Suna no Muya" (Sand of Cocoon). Don't tell me he plans on transforming!" Temari said.

"It looks that way!" Kankurou said.

"_**Kit I can feel demonic chakra building up in him." **_

Naruto having managed to barely hear what Gaara's siblings said and adding that with what Kyuubi said, Naruto knew something really bad was about to happen.

"What the hell he's going to transform into?! I need to stop him."

"_Never thought I'd be saying this but use the Chidori son, it will pierce that sphere like it was paper!" _

Naruto didn't hesitate; he quickly formed the necessary seals. Once he was done Naruto had pure lighting concentrated in his right hand. Even without eyes like the Sharingan, with Kyuubi's chakra concentrated to his eyes, Naruto would at least be able to somewhat compensate for the tunnel vision.

"Chidori!!" Naruto sped towards the sand sphere in blinding break-neck speeds.

Naruto's attack smashed through the sphere. His lighting covered hand tore through and struck Gaara. Temari and Kankurou were left with there mouths open. They had never seen this many of Gaara's attacks beaten.

"What…what happened? What's this warm feeling? Is this blood? It's…it's my blood!! My blood!!" Gaara screamed out in horror and pain.

XXXXXXXXXX

"AHHHH!!" Sasuke screamed out in pain.

Never in his entire life did he feel anything like this before. He felt an incredible stabbing pain in his neck and the rest of his body felt like it was on fire.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled out as she was now by his side.

"What did you do to him?!" Sakura yelled as she dropped into a fighting stance.

"Oh it's just a little gift I'm giving to Sasuke-kun." The Kusa-nin said as he moved his hand over his hitai-ate, the symbol changed to that of a music note, this nin was a Oto-nin in disguise.

"Who are you?!" Sakura yelled out.

"I am Orochimaru and that's all you need to know about me. Oh and as for Sasuke-kun, if he wants to become stronger he will seek me out." Orochimaru said as he disappeared into the forest.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto pulled his arm back as the sphere broke down into sand. Standing before him was Gaara who was clutching his bleeding shoulder. Both of them just stared at each other.

"Gaara wasn't able to transform. That crazy bastard actually stopped Gaara before he could even call up some kind of amount of "his chakra." Kankurou said.

"Come on we got to get Gaara out of here before he recovers from the side effects of that failed transformation or his chakra exhaustion. We already let this get way out of hand." Temari said as she jumped down from her position, Kankurou reluctantly followed behind.

Naruto and Gaara continued to stare at one another. They were both breathing hard and were exhausted. What little demonic chakra Gaara hade managed to summon up was now receding, while Naruto's body at its limit left Minato no choice but to withdraw Kyuubi's chakra.

"You…and I are the same…aren't we?" Gaara barely managed to ask.

"We may both have tenants inside of us…but I am not like you…" Naruto said in between breaths.

Temari and Kankurou landed and ran up to Gaara. They both helped Gaara stay balanced, keeping him from falling down.

"Temari…Kankurou…?" Gaara said dazed and confused.

Even though Temari and Kankurou always feared Gaara and were afraid that they would end up another one of his victims. For the first time they saw a weak and exhausted Gaara. He didn't have that killers face like he always had, he was just had a tired expression.

"It's alright Gaara, let's go, we'll patch up that wound alright?" Temari said.

Temari and Kankurou took off with their injured and exhausted brother. Kankurou took a quick glance at Naruto; the blonde was someone that Kankurou could never forget, not after what he saw.

"Looks like it's over…" Naruto barely said as he had fallen face flat on the ground.

XXXXXXXXXX

The whole time the battle had occurred, Kabuto and his team was watching. The nin actually had a notepad and was writing down everything.

"This is interesting; Orochimaru-sama will need to know about this." Kabuto said as he and his team left.  
XXXXXXXXXX

Hinata ran as fast as she could. She had to get to Naruto, if anything had happened to him. Hinata could never forgive herself; she had made her decision a while ago to be there for Naruto. This moment was no exception.

"Naruto-kun please be okay." Hinata said to herself.

When Hinata got back to the area that Naruto had fought Gaara, she saw the devastation done to the area. And there was Naruto falling face first into the ground.

"Naruto-kun!!" Hinata screamed his name as she ran to him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sakura had found a spot underneath a tree to use as shelter. She had laid Sasuke down and was checking up on his vitals. Sakura knew that Sasuke was burning up, his health was barely stable.

Even though her medical skills were somewhat limited, she knew what to do to help take care of Sasuke. What perplexed her though was the mark on Sasuke's neck that had appeared near where Orochimaru had bitten him. She didn't know what it was exactly but she knew it was the cause of Sasuke's condition.

"Please be okay Sasuke-kun." Sakura said as she put a damp cloth on Sasuke's forehead.

"Naruto where are you?" Sakura asked herself. "This team needs you right now, please be okay and come back."

XXXXXXXXXX

Hinata was tending to Naruto's injuries. She had taken out her own medical kit and was doing her best to patch up Naruto. Despite being told earlier by Naruto about his own ability to quickly heal, Hinata was surprised to find Naruto's injuries quickly healing. While she was doing this, Hinata's teammates were arguing about their next course of action.

"What do mean we should take him with us?!" Kiba said.

"We need to take him back to his team." Shino responded.

"If his team were looking for him then we should just leave him here for them to find." Kiba said.

Shino frowned under his collar and actually clenched his fist. "Kiba, please do not let your dislike for Uzumaki-san cloud your judgment or memory. Because we are only alive right now because Uzumaki-san risked his own life to rescue us." Shino said almost in a threatening manner.

Akamaru was starting to tug on Kiba's pant leg. Kiba could tell that Akamaru was agreeing with Shino. The Inuzuka groaned they had a point, even then though Kiba was hesitating on telling Shino he would agree with the decision to take Naruto with them. At least until Hinata after patching up Naruto voiced her opinion.

"KIBA!!" Hinata yelled out at her teammate with her Byakugan activated.

"We are taking Naruto-kun with us and that is final!!" Hinata yelled out, it looked as if she was about ready to strike Kiba.

Kiba gulped nervously. "H-hey i-it's alright Hinata, I was g-going to agree…" Kiba said nervously, obviously he did not want to incur the wrath of a pissed off Hinata.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Konoha Senpuu!! (Leaf Whirlwind)" Lee yelled out as he delivered a flying round house kick to knock down all three Oto genin.

"L-lee-san what are you doing here?!" Sakura asked.

"I will always appear when you are in trouble." Lee said, Sakura blushed a little from Lee's reasoning.

"Thank you Lee, you saved me." Sakura smiled, at the same time she also felt bad. Even after she had made her decision to become a better kunoichi, she still had to be rescued by the people around her.

"I said it before…That I would protect you until I die…" Lee said.

Dosu, Zaku and Kin all stared at Lee. Dosu handed Zaku the teams scroll to him.

"I'll take care of the green freak in front of us; you can have Sasuke, Zaku." Dosu said as he got ready to fight.

XXXXXXXXXX

"What…what's going on here?" Naruto asked half awake and dazed.

"Naruto-kun!!" Hinata yelled out as she ran up to Naruto and hugged him fiercely.

"Tenshi-chan you're okay?" Naruto asked.

"O-of course I'm okay N-Naruto-kun." Hinata said as she blushed from hugging Naruto but didn't release her hold on him.

"All thanks to you Uzumaki-san, I'm eternally grateful for what you did." Shino said with a hint of appreciation in his voice, Shino then nudged Kiba.

"Yeah…thanks…" Kiba said hesitantly while Akamaru barked his thank you.

Naruto could feel a wet spot form on his vest. The blonde looked down to see that Hinata was crying.

"Tenshi-chan what's wrong, you're safe now. Gaara already left…" Naruto said.

"I-I thought I was going to l-lose you! I was s-so worried…" Naruto held Hinata closer to him. He then kissed her on the forehead, just then realizing that his mask wasn't on his face.

"Shhh, it's alright Tenshi-chan. I'm okay, I'm right here. Remember what I said I promised you I would be okay and I never go back on my promises." Naruto said reassuringly.

"_Aww, that's my son for you…" _

"_**Yeah…I'm just wondering when he's gonna get laid." **_

Minato smacked Kyuubi in the back of the head. _"So not the time for that you damn perverted fox."_

Shino smiled under his collar, he was never one to admit to it, but these moments made him feel warm inside. Akamaru also barked liking the interaction before Hinata and Naruto. Kiba himself had even found the scene as he put it.

"That's…surprisingly cute…" Kiba said a little hesitantly.

"Well if you don't mind, how's about we get your ass back to your team now?" Kiba said interrupting the moment.

Naruto suddenly had a shocked and horrified look on his face, it was somewhat comical to look at.

"Oh shit! My team!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Ino and her team moments ago came into rescue Sakura and Lee after they both were beaten by the Oto-nins. Ino using her "Shintenshin no Jutsu" (Mind Body Change Technique), to take control of Kin's body. However this proved to a fatal error in planning as Zaku uncaringly shot Kin/Ino with his air vent.

"Ino!!" Shikamaru screamed out.

"These guys…would even hurt their own…comrade…" Ino said through Kin's body as blood trickled down her mouth.

"You guys seem a little bit confused…" Zaku said as he got ready for another attack.

"Our objective has nothing to do with the scrolls or safely accomplishing the Chunin Exams…" Dosu said.

"It's all about…." Before Dosu could finish what he was saying multiple kunai were hurled at him and Zaku.

Team 8 and Naruto landed in front Team 10. Everyone was surprised to see them there.

"It looks like all the academy alumni are together once again." Naruto said grinning, his face still unmasked because Naruto had rushed off to find his team before he could put his mask back on.

"Now then let's get wild." Naruto said as he charged towards the Oto-nins.

"Oh shit, Ino you better get out of that kunoichi's body now!" Shikamaru yelled out to Kin/Ino. She did as she was told and released control over Kin. Ino returned to her own body.

"_Son I don't think it's a good idea right now to take them head on. You're still worn out from your fight with Gaara." _

Naruto didn't listen to his father and went after Dosu. The blonde made an overhead strike with his staff. Dosu used his gauntlet to block the attack. A loud chime sound was made from the impact. Suddenly Naruto found himself disorientated.

"You fool; I don't need to swing my arm to use my gauntlet." Dosu said in a mocking tone.

"Shit!" Naruto said as he started to lose balance.

"Now you've left yourself open you idiot!" Zaku yelled out as he charged up his attack.

"Zankuuha!!(Decapitating Air Waves)"

Using sound waves in combination with air pressure, Zaku fired a massive blast at Naruto. Hinata saw the attack coming and before anyone could react, she ran towards Naruto.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled as she got between Naruto and the blast that was fired at him.

All of the Konoha genin had wide-eyes and shocked expressions. Hinata's body hurled into the air, blood drops could be seen in air coming out of Hinata's mouth. She landed on the ground; her body lay limp and unmoving.

"No…Hinata…" Naruto said, without his mask his shocked face could be seen.

Naruto dropped his staff and started to hesitantly walk towards Hinata's body. Dosu and Zaku both smiled at the effect the attack had on Naruto, while Kin barely had any idea what was going on. The blonde fell to his knee's before Hinata. Naruto just stared in shock as tears started to fall. Everybody else just stared; they couldn't believe what had just happened.

Naruto himself didn't know what to do; he didn't know what to say or feel. It seemed like there was nothing anymore…and then Naruto felt it.

"NOOOOOO!!" Naruto screamed to the top of his lungs, red chakra exploding from his body.

AN: _There you guys go. I apologize if I skipped a lot of canon scenes and made it seem like I was chopping scenes together and constantly shifting the scenes back and forth. _


	14. Pain

AN: _Here is another chapter everyone. Now some of you are wondering if Gaara will start making his whole change thing now. Well, I'm gonna say something will happen to him. But it's something a little different._

Chapter 13: Pain

"What is this feeling?"

"Why does it hurt so much?"

He stared at her body lying on the ground. She was sprawled on the ground; he stared at her limp form. Tears fell from his eyes…

"So much…pain…"

The feeling was nearly indescribable. He didn't know what to do, what to say…but then another feeling came to him. It came so suddenly, this feeling. It was like a heartbeat, each beat became louder for Naruto. Even though people were calling out Naruto and Hinata, even though arguing could be heard and desperate pleas.

The sound of this loud thumping heartbeat was all Naruto could hear. Even the voice of his father couldn't be heard over the sound of this beating heart. It was loud and only became louder. It started to beat faster and faster, until Naruto understood what he was feeling…anger.

"NOOOOOO!!"

Naruto screamed with anguish, pain, and rage. Blood red chakra exploded from his body. The chakra waved around like a blazing inferno. Everybody stared in shock, horror, and even some amazement.

Without his mask on, everyone could see the full extent of the demonic transformation Naruto was going through. They could see the razor-sharp fangs in his mouth and wider whisker marks.

Never in Naruto's entire life did he feel so much anger…never. And with that anger, Naruto could feel hate as well. Naruto felt so much anger, he was mad at himself. Because he was stupid enough to rush into battle without even thinking, recklessly putting himself and everyone else, especially Hinata in danger. He hated himself for being stupid; he hated himself letting Hinata get hurt and maybe even killed.

But Naruto's anger and hate also directed at someone else as well. His anger was also directed at the nin who had attacked. The nin who had hit Hinata who had barely cared that Hinata wasn't his target. Naruto hated him so much…he was going to show him all the pain he felt ten-fold.

"W-what's happening to N-naruto?" Sakura barely managed to ask.

The flaming chakra whipped around for a few moments longer and then formed into the shape of a fox with one tail, but it could also be seen that another tail was slowly forming. Naruto stood up and looked at the Oto-nin responsible for hurting and quite possibly killing one of his most precious people.

"You…" Naruto said slowly.

Zaku and Dosu both flinched. They had never seen so much power before or felt so much killing intent. The only thing that came to mind for them was Orochimaru, for them it was hard to tell which one was higher, either way though they knew they were in deep shit.

Naruto literarily growled like an angry canine. "You took her from me!! You took her away from me!!" Naruto screamed out, anger and hate painted his face, while tears streamed down.

Zaku was shaking in fear and yet his cocky arrogance made him taunt Naruto. "So what about it, you won't my apology?" Zaku said still trembling but trying to sound uncaring.

"No…I don't want your apology…**I want you dead!! I'll tear you limb from fucking limb!! And I'll start with you those damn arms!!" **Naruto screamed out each of his words nearly felt like a powerful boom.

"W-well c-come on, let's see you t-try!!" Zaku yelled out.

"No Zaku you fucking idiot don't!!" Dosu yelled to his teammate but it was too late.

A red blur with a red streak behind it, shot across the ground. A fist collided with Zaku's face. The hit threw Zaku violently across the ground, multiple times his body skidded and hit the ground, but he didn't stop until he hit a large tree root. Dosu only looked in disbelief before he found Naruto standing front of him.

"Holy shit!" Dosu yelled out.

The bandage wrapped Oto-nin brought his gauntlet up to try and shield himself. Naruto grabbed Dosu's gauntlet and held it for a second before he crushed with one squeeze. Dosu then screamed in pain as he felt Naruto begin to crush his arm. Suddenly the pain subsided. Naruto had let go of Dosu's arm. Only to find Naruto's hand on his face, throwing Dosu into the ground, the impact had enough force to leave a small crater underneath Dosu.

"I-I had no idea Naruto was this s-strong…" Ino said hesitantly.

"No way in hell a person could be capable of this kind of power." Kiba said shocked.

Naruto started to walk over to where Zaku was. Zaku was still on the ground, he was clutching his face in pain. The punch he had received earlier had enough force to shatter his cheekbone. Kin, who was still unable to move from the attack she received earlier, was scared. She was afraid for her life, her mind showed a million different things that could happen right then and there.

"Oh please no, I don't want to die this way…I'm so scared…" Kin thought as some tears started to fall from her eyes.

Kin closed her eyes and waited for her impending death and waited…nothing happened. Kin opened her eyes expecting Naruto to be staring at her with the face of a wild animal. Only to find that Naruto had walked passed her, the blonde jinchuuriki continuing on a path towards the downed Zaku.

Zaku saw Naruto coming towards him, despite the aching pain in his face Zaku ignored it and got up. He didn't like that he was just punched in the face by this blonde genin, so he was mad. Add that anger with his cocky arrogance; he decided that he would destroy Naruto in one hit.

"Come on you freak!! I'll kill you right here and now!!" Zaku said as he started to gather chakra and did some seals.

"Zankyokukuuha!! (Extreme Decapitating Air Waves)"

Zaku fired off a blast similar to what had used earlier on Hinata. Only the attack was far more powerful and destructive. The blast tore through the landscape. Everyone was about to head for cover until the blast abruptly stopped short.

BOOM!!

It was like the blast that Zaku fired had hit an impenetrable wall. Even before the dust from the blast settled, everyone saw a red glow from the midst of the debris. Naruto stood growling angrily, a second tail had formed from the red chakra.

"H-how did you survive that?!" Zaku yelled out.

Naruto didn't answer Zaku; he merely disappeared and reappeared behind Zaku. The Oto-nin felt clawed hands grab his arms from behind.

"W-what the h-hell are y-you doing?!"

"I told you I would rip you limb from limb and I would start with those arms. And that's exactly what I'm going to do!"

Naruto slammed his foot into Zaku's back and started to pull on the Oto-nin's arm. Everybody heard the deathly scream of pain from Zaku and the sickening sound his arms breaking and being wrenched from their sockets.

"AHHHHHHH!!" Everybody felt almost sick from Zaku's scream of bloody murder.

XXXXXXXXXX

While this was happening, Hinata's limp form started to move a little. The young heiress opened her eyes. She was disorientated and could barely hear anything. Hinata hurt all over, she struggled to get on her feet.

Sakura could see that Hinata was alive and somewhat alright. She ran over and checked Hinata. Her injuries weren't that bad but still needed to be handled. Sakura helped Hinata to her feet. When everyone else saw that she was alright a moment of relief spread across their faces. Only for a moment though as everyone continued to stare in disbelief at the sight before them.

Hinata looked in the direction everyone was staring at. She saw that the three Oto-nins from earlier were all down on the ground. The kunoichi of the group was on the ground with a frightened face. The one with the bandages wrapped around his face was struggling to get on his feet; his back was partly sunk into the ground. And the one that had tried to attack Naruto earlier was on the ground with his arms broken and twisted.

And standing behind the mangled Oto-nin was Naruto. Only he was different, Hinata saw that his eyes were red once more like last time. Also his body was rapped up in red chakra; the chakra had the distinct shape of a fox.

"N-naruto-kun, what happened to y-you?" Hinata said out loud.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Please…stop…" Zaku said weakly.

"Stop…you want me to stop? Why should I do that?! You took away from me!! I said I would kill you and I'm going to do just that! Now say your last prayers!" Naruto screamed out as he flexed his clawed hands, some more tears fell from his eyes.

"No Naruto-kun! Please stop!" Hinata yelled out but her voice couldn't be heard.

Hinata decided that she would have to run to Naruto and show him that she was alright. As soon she started to move towards Naruto, Sakura grabbed a hold of Hinata's wrist.

"Hinata what are you doing?!" Sakura yelled out.

"I-I have to help N-naruto-kun!" Hinata responded.

"What are you crazy, don't you see that the guy has completely lost it?! He's too damn dangerous!" Kiba yelled out.

"He'll b-be okay, if he sees t-that I'm fine!" Hinata protested.

"Not gonna happen, we should just get out of…Hey wait!!" Before anyone knew it, Hinata broke away from Sakura's grasp.

The young Hyuuga heiress managed to shove her way through everyone. Hinata ran she, she ran as fast as her legs could carry. She started yelling out Naruto's name, she screamed out trying to get his attention. But he didn't seem to hear. She had to get to him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was about to bring down his claws. He was going to kill Zaku, the Oto-nin who had caused him so much pain by hurting Hinata. Naruto raised his left hand ready to bring it down.

"Naruto-kun!!" A female voice screamed out.

Hinata ran her body into Naruto. Despite the intense heat being generated from the red chakra that surrounded Naruto's body, Hinata wrapped her arms around him. She pulled him in as close as she could. She held him close to her.

"I'm fine Naruto-kun! Its okay, I'm not dead. I'm right here…please stop, please stop…" Hinata begged as she continued to hold Naruto.

Naruto didn't know what to do; he didn't know what to say. He felt as if his world was destroyed, like his life ended. And now one of the people that had mattered the most to him was back. Naruto raised his hands slowly. Everybody that was watching assumed the worst was going to happen.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" Naruto's voice cracked as he slowly dropped to his knees, while putting his arms around Hinata's back.

The chakra that was rapped around Naruto's body receded. His physical features had changed back. Hinata could feel her jacket becoming wet; she saw that Naruto was crying he had more tears stream down his face.

"I'm so sorry…I didn't know what to do…you…you were…I thought…" Naruto tried his best to speak coherently, but he couldn't make any sentences.

Naruto was filled with regret and relief. Regret because he knew he was still responsible for what happened to Hinata, recklessly charging in and nearly getting Hinata killed, and relief because he knew that Hinata was alive.

"Shh, it's a-alright Naruto-kun, I'm fine. I'm n-not dead, I'm alive. It's a-alright now, I'm here. Everything is g-going to be alright." Hinata said in a soothing manner as she gently kissed Naruto on the cheek, not even realizing what she did to become embarrassed about it.

Naruto continued to cry in Hinata's arms. Hinata held Naruto's head to her chest; she rested her chin atop Naruto's head and closed her eyes. She had told herself once that she wanted to be with Naruto, to be there for him when he needed someone. Hinata would hold herself to it.

XXXXXXXXXX

After the battle ended, Kin reluctantly helped Dosu out of the small crater he was stuck in and they both took Zaku and left, leaving a scroll behind as well. Hinata was being checked up on by Sakura, she had some bruises, small fractures, and some bleeding. But she would be alright as long as she took it easy. Sakura also proceeded to patch up Lee, and afterwards she checked on Sasuke.

In the midst of the aftermath Naruto had taken off to be by himself. The reason being was the looks of fear some of the genin gave him. Ino in particular felt somewhat uneasy around Naruto. Sakura was also a little fidgety when she checked up on him, Naruto took solace in the fact that if Sakura was really afraid of him, she wouldn't have even given him a medical examination. Kiba himself didn't want Naruto anywhere near him and Akamaru didn't necessarily agree with his partner but he did fear Naruto.

Not everyone had a problem with Naruto at the moment. Shikamaru himself said it was too troublesome to be worried about what had happened and took a nap. Chouji himself just said that nothing changed between them and then offered Naruto some chips, the big boned nin also noted that if he hadn't come when he did Ino might have ended up in a worse condition than she already was in. Naruto didn't realize right away, but it almost sounded like Chouji was more relieved than he had led on. Lee had gone on about the "Flames of Youth" and something about the power of love. Shino was visibly shaken by what Naruto was capable of but deduced that it was this same power that Naruto had to use to guarantee his team's survival against Gaara.

Either way though, at the moment Naruto just wanted to be alone for a while. So Naruto just went a short distance away and just sat alone on a large tree trunk. Naruto just sat alone deep in thought.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tenten had eventually found Lee and took off with him. She thanked the other genins for keeping Lee out of trouble. After the two left, Hinata looked around for Naruto. She couldn't find him anywhere in the campsite. Hinata got a little worried, so she decided to ask where Naruto was.

"Ano, d-does anyone know w-where N-naruto-kun is?" Hinata asked a couple of the genin actually flinched at hearing Naruto's name.

"Hopefully that monster or whatever he is left and isn't coming back." Kiba said bluntly.

"K-kiba-san don't say that about N-naruto-kun!" Hinata said trying her best to show her anger.

"Yeah Kiba, that was uncalled for." Ino protested with Hinata.

"Oh don't give me that crap Ino. You saw what he did, what he was capable of. Don't tell me you weren't afraid. Same goes for all of you, don't pretend nothing happened! You all saw it…" Kiba was cut off.

"Inuzuka-san, you're wearing down my patience. It's true that the powers that Uzumaki-san displayed was frightening but keep in mind that was probably the same power he used to stop Gaara and save us. Or did you already forget the reason why you and the rest of this team are still alive." Shino said his monotone voice was laced with a calm sort of anger. Everyone else was surprised to hear that Naruto had fought with Gaara.

Shino then looked at Hinata; he knew that his teammate cared very much for the blonde genin. It didn't take much to figure it out and of course Shino would never admit it, he was a sort of romantic. He liked to see true love blossom.

"Why don't you go ahead and look for Uzumaki-san, it will be sometime before we leave." Shino said.

"T-thank you." Hinata said as she took off looking for Naruto.

As Hinata left, Kiba looked at Shino with anger. "What the hell was that?!" Kiba shouted.

"It was exactly as it sounded, you show how unappreciative you are for still being alive again…I guarantee you that you will find yourself in a lot of pain." Shino said with some killing intent.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sat alone on a tree trunk. He was lost in thought.

"I can't believe I lost control like that…" Naruto said out loud to himself.

"_It's alright son…"_

"No it isn't!" Naruto said to his father.

"I just lost it like that…the red chakra it…I was so mad I couldn't control it, I couldn't control myself. If Hinata hadn't come when she did who knows what might've happened next. I could've…"

"_But you didn't."_

"But I could've what if it happens again and I don't have enough control. It might not be just my enemies who will end up being badly injured."

"_Then we prevent it from happening. We'll get more training done; make sure you can control you emotions more. Maybe even refine your ability to summon the…"_

"No! I can't control it dad, not when you're not there to pull the plug when needed. I don't want to be able to call that chakra on my own."

XXXXXXXXXX

Using her Byakugan, Hinata found Naruto sitting by himself on one of the higher tree trunks. Hinata made her way up the tree and slowly approached Naruto.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata said.

Naruto jumped up from his sitting position completely surprised that Hinata had found him.

"H-how did Hinata-chan find me?!" Naruto thought frantically, he really wasn't expecting anyone to find him.

"_**Hey stupid, remember her "cool eyes," hmm?" **_

"Crap…" Naruto deadpanned to himself.

"Hey Tenshi-chan…how are you feeling?" Naruto asked, he tried his best to hide it, but Hinata could hear the guilt in his voice.

"I-I'm f-fine, Sakura-san checked me up, she s-said I would be a-alright." Hinata said.

"That's good…" Naruto looked down; even with his mask back on Naruto's face showed so much pain and guilt he could barely face Hinata. "Hinata…" Hinata looked at Naruto.

"I…I'm so sorry…" Naruto said his starting to crack up.

"W-what are you sorry f-for?" Hinata asked not sure what Naruto was saying.

"It was my fault you almost got killed! I shouldn't have gone in so recklessly, you wouldn't have gotten hurt! I've only been trouble for you, I should just go and leave." Naruto said in anger and sorrow, he was about to turn around and leave until he felt a hand grab his wrist.

Naruto looked to see that Hinata was on the verge of tears. "P-please d-don't leave me again…please." Hinata begged.

"Dammit…I don't want to hurt her anymore…whatever I do though, I still end up hurting her…" Naruto thought sadly.

"I-I can't Hinata…no matter what I do, I always hurt you. I can't do that to you." Naruto said sorrowfully.

"N-no Naruto-kun, p-please don't blame yourself. I-it wasn't your fault…I-I mean sure w-what you did was reckless…" Hinata saw that Naruto lowered his head in shame. "B-but you were in d-danger…" Naruto suddenly looked up at Hinata with a surprised look.

"Y-you were in danger, t-that was what mattered." Hinata said sternly.

"You would do that for me?" Naruto asked still surprised.

"Y-yes and I did do it f-for you r-right?" Naruto nodded a response.

"But why Hinata…am I that important to you?" Naruto asked not exactly sure how to feel.

"I-I told you before t-that I care about you…t-that hasn't changed." Hinata said.

"Come on! Just tell him that you love him already! Just do it! Tell him why you're here for him and now and forever, dammit. He needs to know!" Hinata mentally screamed to herself.

Naruto remembered how Hinata had told him the first time. He had loved the feeling he got from Hinata when she said she cared about him. But now it was different, Naruto didn't want Hinata to say it until he told her the truth.

"Hinata…could you still care about me if I was a monster?" Naruto asked. Minato heard his son ask the question, the blonde's father felt so much pain when he heard his son call give himself that.

"B-but Naruto-kun y-you're not a monster…" Hinata said.

"Are you sure about that? You wanted to know about my "eyes," you also saw what I was capable of earlier." Naruto said in a grim manner.

"Naruto-kun w-what are you saying?" Hinata hesitantly asked.

"You might want to sit down for this Hinata…" Hinata did as she was asked.

"There's something I haven't been telling you about…Hinata you know of the Kyuubi attack that happened twelve years ago right?" Naruto asked trying to hide the pain he was feeling having to ask that question.

"Y-yes…" Hinata said.

"I'm pretty sure you were told of just how much damage the Kyuubi did. He was a demon of unfathomable power and destruction. A creature that was in its own sense, a god, that fox had laid waste to many of Konoha's finest. Even the Yondaime, he…"

"N-naruto-kun you make i-it sound like the Kyuubi w-wasn't defeated." Hinata said nervously.

"Because he wasn't defeated, Konoha's greatest and most powerful Shinobi and Hokage, the Yondaime. Couldn't defeat him, it left him no choice but to make the painful decision to seal the Kyuubi's spirit into a newborn baby by sacrificing his own life." Naruto said sadly.

Hinata only looked at Naruto; the pieces were starting to come together. "N-naruto-kun…"

"Do you know what the date of my birthday is, Hinata?"

Hinata being Naruto's admirer from afar knew the date. "O-October Tenth…" Hinata said.

Everything came together for Hinata. She knew now why Naruto had always been treated the way he was. All the hateful stares and glares he always received or the beatings. Hinata understood now.

"That power you saw, my fast healing, my red eyes. They are the effects of having Kyuubi inside of me. I…" Before Naruto could continue further, Hinata did something unexpected.

"Naruto-kun no!" Hinata yelled out as she grabbed Naruto and held him close to her.

"You're not a monster, you're not. You never were!!" Hinata said as she held him tight.

"But I…" Naruto tried to speak.

"You are you Naruto-kun; n-nothing will change that." Hinata said hardly stuttering.

Naruto looked into Hinata's eyes to see that she was serious and wasn't lying. The blonde couldn't hold it back. When he had started this conversation he feared he would lose Hinata. He thought that she would see him as the monster everyone else had viewed him as. But she didn't leave him; she stayed…more than that she assured him of his humanity.

"Hinata…you…you really are an angel…thank you!!" Naruto yelled the last part as he buried his face into Hinata's shoulder and began to cry once more.

He didn't want to cry anymore, Naruto didn't want to shed unnecessary tears. But he felt so many emotions. The strongest of the emotions was relief, knowing that Hinata wouldn't leave him. And happiness, he knew that Hinata accepted him for who he was. She always had and always will.

There was one other emotion that Naruto felt. He wasn't quite sure what it was exactly, he had a vague feeling, but didn't want to jump to conclusions. Naruto didn't say or acknowledge it to himself yet, but what he felt was…love.

XXXXXXXXXX

For a while longer Naruto and Hinata held each other. They didn't want to let go of one another. But they both knew that they would have to eventually let go and go back. As they both slowly released the embrace that held them together, Naruto just stared into Hinata's eyes. The young Hyuuga blushed.

"Thank you again Tenshi-chan…thank you for assuring me of who I am." Naruto said.

Hinata blushed but then smiled. "O-of course Naruto-kun, remember y-you will always be you. Because y-you're my Naruto…eep!" Hinata quickly clamped her own mouth shut; she couldn't believe she had let that slip out.

"Tenshi-chan did you just say "my Naruto?" Naruto asked with a slight blush.

"I-I well i-it's j-just…" Hinata struggled to say something that could explain her slip of the tongue.

"I-it's now or never, Naruto-kun told me about his secret. I need to him that I love him. I just have to!" Hinata thought.

"Tenshi-chan do you have something to tell me?" Naruto asked, not realizing how close his face was to Hinata's.

"I-I do, N-naruto-kun for a long time now I have…" Before Hinata could get any further, both she and Naruto felt a sudden spike in power.

"What the hell was that?!" Naruto yelled out.

"That k-kind of f-felt like your other c-chakra…" Hinata said.

"It can't be Gaara can it?"

"_**No this is something different, something corrupted." **_

"It felt like it came from the campsite, let's go." Naruto said as he took the lead.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Sasuke-kun you're up…" Sakura said with relief until she saw the markings that started to appear on Sasuke's skin.

"S-sasuke-kun are you alright? You're skin it…"

"I've never felt better in my entire life…" Sasuke said with a malicious smile.

Everyone was shocked to see black flame like markings that were spreading across Sasuke's body. With the markings that appeared on his body came an insidious chakra. No one really knew what to say or ask exactly.

"Man you don't look so good Uchiha, what's with the tattoos?" Kiba asked trying to make it sound like a joke.

"Trying to sound funny dog boy? Let's see how funny you are when you're eating the ground." Sasuke said in a threatening manner.

Everybody knew something was wrong, Sasuke rarely ever challenged anyone, let alone like this. Kiba himself felt unnerved but he wasn't one to back down from a threat.

"Don't give me an excuse to mop the…" Before Kiba could finish his sentence, a fist collided with his face. Kiba was sent back rolling on the ground.

"There I just gave you an excuse, now fight me." Sasuke said the markings on his body were spreading more. A dark purple and black chakra began to whip around Sasuke's body.

Everybody could feel the pressure from this new power growing Sasuke. Kiba got back on his feet. The dark chakra that emitted from Sasuke had Kiba uneasy as well, but he wasn't going to let a sucker punch go.

"You bastard, Uchiha I'm gonna kick your ass!" Kiba ran at Sasuke.

"Tsuuga!!(Piercing Fang)"

Kiba jumped and started spinning at a rapid speed. His whole body started rotating like a drill. The speed of the attack was pretty impressive, however for Sasuke with his new chakra. The Uchiha was becoming increasingly faster.

Everybody cleared the way for Kiba's attack, despite protests that the two genin shouldn't fight. Sasuke didn't care however, ever since he woke up with this new found power. He was itching for a fight. And Kiba although unnerved and feeling rather scared of this dark chakra due to his witnessing Naruto use his red chakra. He was too pissed off from being punched to remember something was wrong with Sasuke.

Sasuke was easily dodging the attacks, the Uchiha continued to smile. The whole time Sasuke had found the attempts at hitting him rather amusing. But now he felt it was time to end it. Using his Sharingan, Sasuke was able to predict which direction that Kiba was would come in. At the right moment, Sasuke kicked Kiba in the face stopping his rotating attack. Before Kiba new it, he found Sasuke holding him up with by the neck with one hand.

"You're pathetically weak, what happened to kicking my ass?" Sasuke asked while holding Kiba up.

Akamaru charged in to help his partner. The canine companion jumped up and sunk his teeth into Sasuke's arm. Sasuke was not amused as he easily swatted Akamaru away. Suddenly the pooch exploded into a hail of kunai. Having to try and avoid the surprise attack, Sasuke had to let go of Kiba to dodge the flying weapons.

Kiba smirked. "Good job Akamaru he fell right into…" Kiba's thoughts were halted as the kunai stabbed into Sasuke only for him to become a log.

Another fist collided with Kiba's face; the Inuzuka was now face down on the ground with a foot pressed down on his neck. Tossed down beside him was Akamaru.

"You didn't think my Sharingan wouldn't have been able to see through your mutt's little trick would you?" Sasuke asked pressing harder his foot harder into Kiba's neck.

"Please Sasuke-kun stop!" Sakura yelled out.

"Give it up Sakura-san. There's something wrong with Uchiha-san. I don't know what it is, but it probably has to do with that chakra leaking out of his body." Shino said he then looked at Shikamaru.

"Nara-san, I'm hoping that you will help provide assistance in stopping Uchiha-san?"

"Ah jeez, this is troublesome. But I guess if we don't do something then Kiba's gonna ended up having a nice diet of dirt." Shikamaru said.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Hinata rushed back to the campsite. To their shock and surprise they found Kiba was down on the ground along with Akamaru. Shino and Shikamaru were both standing side by side, both showed signs of fatigue and some injuries. And in the middle of it all was Sasuke.

The Uchiha stood smiling; his body was covered with flame like markings. His body radiated a dark purplish chakra. It was obvious that Shino, Shikamaru, and Kiba were the ones fighting Sasuke.

"Teme what the hell are you doing?!" Naruto yelled out to his teammate as he stepped up.

"Oh so you finally show up dobe. Good I didn't these guys would last any longer. Fight me!" Sasuke said menacingly.

"Look teme, I don't know what's wrong with you. But right now is not the time for a spa…"

BAM!!

Naruto felt a fist collide with his stomach. The blonde choked for air as the wind was knocked out of him. Sasuke then sent a bone crushing blow to Naruto's face. Down on his knees, Naruto saw that Sasuke drew out his ninjato. The Uchiha brought down his blade; Naruto barely had time to draw out one his kodachi to block the weapon.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled out as she ran to help Naruto.

"Hinata stay back!" Naruto yelled back.

The blonde quickly dropped down on his back and swung both his legs at Sasuke making a double sweep quick. Sasuke jumped up and brought his blade down once more. Naruto rolled to the side and dodged the attack. Quickly doing a kip-up, Naurto was back on his feet.

"What the hell is wrong with the teme, and what the hell is that chakra?!" Naruto thought.

"_That chakra it's corrupted. And it's making Sasuke stronger and extremely dangerous. Son you're in no condition to fight. And it's way too dangerous for the others to take him on." _

"So what do we do then?" Naruto asked his father.

"_Knock him out fast before this gets way out of hand, before people get hurt. I'm going to have to over son. Let me handle it." _

"Alright dad, everybody's already seen furballs chakra. Might as well have them see it used differently." Naruto said to his father.

Sasuke stood for a few moments longer before he got ready to charge at Naruto. Suddenly a spike in power could be felt coming from Naruto. Everyone feared Naruto was about to make the same display of power that he did earlier, everyone accept Hinata, she was willing to accept Naruto using "that power." Red chakra gathered around Naruto's body, it started to take on the form of a fox.

But then a yellow aura appeared. Now instead of the fox form that everyone saw earlier. A yellow aura in a humanoid shape with a red chakra tail was sticking out it, surrounded Naruto's body. The shape of the yellow aura looked familiar to everyone there. Everyone felt the same power as earlier, only there wasn't the same dark feeling from it.

"_Sasuke-san, stop this now or I will stop you myself. First and last warning, and that's it." _Minato/Naruto said.

Everybody was surprised to hear Naruto's voice change. It sounded like the voice of a veteran shinobi, wise and strong. Sasuke only smirked in sadistic excitement.

"Finally a real challenge, something I can really test my new power against." Sasuke said as he went through a series of seals.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Justu!!"

With the dark chakra augmenting his powers, Sasuke fired a massive and destructive fireball more powerful than any he had ever used. Minato/Naruto had to do something to stop the attack or everyone near him would be set ablaze. The blonde started to go through his own seals.

"_Suiton: Sujinheki!!_(Water Release: Water Encampment Wall)_" _

Minato/Naruto blew out a large jet of water from his mouth. The water quickly formed into a barrier that stopped the fireball. The impact resulted in a massive cloud of steam to emerge. Even before the steam could clear Minato/Naruto and Sasuke jumped forward, the sound of blades clashing could be heard.

"_I can't lag this fight, I better end it now. But first I'll need to immobilize him." _

As soon as there was distance between Sasuke and Minato/Naruto. The blonde started going through another series of seals.

"_Fuuinjutsu: Rikujokoro!!_(Sealing Technique: Six Rods Prison of Light)_" _

Minato/Naruto focused his chakra and then pointed his hand at Sasuke. Before the Uchiha knew it, six thin, but wide, beams of light slammed into Sasuke's midsection. It was a sort of circle that was now around Sasuke's body.

"What the hell is thing?! I can't move!" Sasuke struggled against the bodies of light that held him in place. Minato/Naruto ran up to Sasuke while he was immobile and made another series of seals.

"_Fuuinjutsu: Chakra Joumae _(Sealing Technique: Chakra Lock)_" _

Mianto/Naruto slammed his open palm into Sasuke's stomach. The blonde had a surprised look when he saw that the effects of the jutsu weren't working fast enough.

"_I guess sealing your chakra isn't going to be enough…" _

BAM!  
Minato/Naruto quickly delivered a powerful punch square into Sasuke's face and then followed with a roundhouse kick to the side of the head. The combination solid blows to head and having chakra sealed effectively knocked out Sasuke. As the beams of light disappeared Sasuke fell to the ground unconscious. Hinata was already running to Naruto, while everyone else waited until the aura surrounding Naruto receded. As soon as Naruto returned to normal, the blonde fell to his knees in exhaustion. By then Hinata was already beside him.

AN: _The fights weren't really as long as I would've liked. But then again I think I got the point out. Oh and if anyone needs any clarification on the whole Naruto going berserk with Kyuubi's chakra thing._

_Well here's how it works. Naruto starts to gain gradual control/ability to summon Kyuubi's chakra as he gets older. But Minato can still send him the red chakra if needed. Now when Minato sends the chakra, he can also withdraw it. But if Naruto summons it on his own, only he can withdraw it. The only thing is so far Naruto can only summon it through emotional distress. And since his mental state isn't in the best condition, then well it's pretty easy to go berserk with the chakra._

_Anyway I hope you guys like the chapter. _


	15. Preliminaries

AN: _Hello, here's another fast update. By the way I am aware that the sealing jutsu used last chapter is a spell from Bleach. Well I did say in one of my earlier chapters that Naruto would use sealing jutsus that are spells from Bleach. _

_Just in case though I guess I should make another disclaimer. I don't own Naruto or the spells from Bleach._

Chapter 14: Preliminaries

After the whole incident with Sasuke, the injured genin had to take time to recover. At the campsite, Sakura found herself busy having to have to treat Sasuke, Shikamaru, Shino, and Kiba. Since Sakura was the only one with training from a skilled medical-nin, it was up to her to help out her fellow genin.

It was decided that the three genin cells would travel to the target building together. Since Team 7 and 8 already had their needed scrolls. And Team 10 was kindly given the scroll left behind by the Oto team. As soon as everyone was patched up, they would be ready to go.

Some of the genin were somewhat hesitant at first with the idea of traveling together. It couldn't be entirely blamed especially after witnessing both Naruto and Sasuke temporarily go berserk. But their odds of success were better off staying together rather than separated, as Shikamaru put it.

At the moment Naruto was dead asleep. He really did need some time to actually rest. Ever since the second part of the exam started, it was practically one fight after another for Naruto. He was exhausted from having to use Kyuubi's chakra so many times and even having his father take over for a short period of time. Shortly after Hinata had helped Naruto back to the campsite, the blonde had just plain fell asleep with Hinata still supporting his balance.

Naruto didn't know it at the moment; however he was in a rather "comfortable" sleeping position. His back and head gently rested against Hinata's body. The young Hyuuga heiress had her arms wrapped around Naruto from behind. Naruto was practically using Hinata as a cushion. Although blushing, Hinata could care less about her current position. She loved every moment of it.

"Naruto-kun is resting so peacefully." Hinata thought as she held just a little bit closer.

"I wish I could've told him…but something always has to get in the way." Hianta thought sadly.

However Hinata's sad thoughts wouldn't last much longer as Naruto stirred in his sleep. The blonde made a small groan sound and then squirmed in his sleep, moving closer to Hinata.

"Well…until I do get a chance to tell him…I can enjoy this…" Hinata blushed at the thought.

"I wonder what that other power that Naruto-kun was using was." Hinata thought.

"The way he transformed like that, I thought he was going to use the Kyuubi's chakra. But then that yellow aura showed up and his voice changed." Hinata looked at Naruto's sleeping form.

"The shape of that aura looked so familiar too…it looked like Yondaime-sama." Hinata thought as she remembered the framed pictures that her father Hiashi had of himself and the Yondaime.

"I always did think Naruto-kun looked like a chibi version of the Yondaime. I guess that's one of the things that also made him cute. Maybe Naruto-kun is related to Yondaime-sama, they both look a like. Oh well, I could care less if he wasn't related to Yondaime-sama. That isn't why I fell in love with Naruto-kun, but it be would nice. At least then father could possibly approve of a relationship and even…" Hinata blushed and ended up holding Naruto tighter like a girl with her teddy bear.

"…marriage…oh what am I saying. That can only happen if Naruto-kun accepts me. But if I really want to be with Naruto-kun, I will not let my father stop me."

XXXXXXXXXX

After a while Naruto woke up from his much needed sleep. To his surprise he found himself leaning against Hinata, with her arms wrapped around him. Hinata was also asleep at the moment as well. Naruto blushed underneath his mask, but deep down the blonde found his current position rather comfortable.

"Tenshi-chan, time to wake up, I need to get up." Naruto said as he tried to wake up Hinata and get on his feet.

Hinata opened her eyes for a moment and saw Naruto trying to get up. She instantly let go of Naruto and let him get back up on his feet. Hinata looked embarrassed and felt like losing consciousness.

"I'm s-so sorry N-naruto-kun; I shouldn't have d-done that to you. Y-you just fell asleep so fast a-and…"

"Don't worry about it Tenshi-chan. Besides I actually found it pretty comfortable…" Naruto said as he rubbed his head nervously, blushing under his mask.

"Naruto-kun l-liked it…" Hinata thought.

"Hey love birds, was wondering when you guys would come to. Come on let's go were heading out." Shikamaru said in his signature lazy tone.

Although both embarrassed, Naruto and Hinata got ready and took off. Team 7, 8, and 10 all left for the center of the forest.

XXXXXXXXXX

It took another day but the three genin teams made it together to the center of the forest. By the time the teams made it to the center, Sasuke had awakened from his "nap." Much to everyone's surprise, Sasuke vaguely remembered what had happened to him. Not only that, but it seemed that his dark chakra was gone. Everybody was spooked of course; Kiba in particular disliked being near both Naruto and Sasuke. To the Inuzuka, the displays of power that they had made earlier practically labeled them as demons and monsters, Kiba had no idea how right and wrong he was.

Time Skip

…day of the preliminaries…

When Team 7, 8, and 10 arrived at the center of the forest, they entered and found a riddle for themselves on the walls. After figuring out the riddle and opening their scrolls, Iruka appeared in front of the teams. The academy instructor explained the meaning behind the riddle. Afterwards everyone had gotten settled in to wait for the rest of the teams to arrive.

To Team 8 and Naruto's surprise, the Suna genin team were the first one's to arrive and in record time. Much to Team 8 and Naruto's relief, Gaara did not try to kill any of them. However it was pretty easy to tell that there was much tension between Naruto and Gaara.

Now that the remaining days had gone by and the last of the teams arrived. It was announced that there would be a preliminary match before the third and final part of the exam. Before the names would be randomized and the matches were started, it was asked who wanted to drop out. To everybody's surprise Kabuto dropped out.

"_Now why would someone like him just give up? Yakushi, I don't trust you." _Minato said quietly.

After Kabuto left, the genin teams and their senseis went up to watch the matches. Taking the brief moment Naruto decided to go say hi to his kenjutsu sensei, since he was going to be the proctor for the matches.

"Hayate-sensei, it's been a while. Long time no see." Naruto said happily with an eye-smile.

"Cough…Naruto-kun it has been a while…cough…I see that you've taken after Kakashi-san…cough…it's good to see you. I can assume you've been practicing your unique kenjutsu style…cough." Hayate said as he tried not to cough too much.

"Yup, I've been keeping practice. Also I hope you're not mad at me…but I sorta tried to teach the basics to someone else…" Naruto said nervously.

"Hm…cough…I figured as much…it was Uchiha Sasuke right?"

"Yeah it was." Naruto said.

"It seemed you had something to do with it…cough…considering the Uchiha was carrying around a ninjato…I figured you had something to do with it…cough…don't worry though…I'm not too upset…cough…I knew you would pass on your knowledge eventually…cough…I didn't think it would be this soon…cough…but could you wait until you learn everything from me before you decide to teach someone else?" Hayate said.

"Of course sensei, I look forward to learn everything else from you." Naruto said happily.

"Cough…good now gets going alright…cough…" Hayate said as he ruffled Naruto's hair. The blonde then headed up and met with Hinata. The two genin decided to watch the matches together rather than with their respective teams, their sensei's Kakashi and Kurenai didn't mind at all.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Uchiha Sasuke and Akadou Yoroi, please come down to the arena now."

Sasuke and Kabuto's mask wearing teammate stepped down. They looked at each other and got ready to fight. Before going down Sasuke was told by Kakashi to avoid using the Sharingan. Anko had her obvious objections about Sasuke still participating in the exam. After she had found out from Orochimaru, some of the plans he had. The Sandaime however didn't intervene and let Sasuke continue on.

The fight started and it seemed rather evenly matched. Sasuke used a combination of kenjutsu and taijutsu to hold his own against Yoroi. Hayate found Sasuke's progress with the sword rather impressive. However it didn't take long for Yoroi's surprise attack with his "Chakra Kyuuin Jutsu" (Charka Absorption Technique) to gain up the upper hand.

Sasuke found himself nearly immobile and his curse seal activating. With few options left, Sasuke would have to defeat Yoroi soon. Using the taijutsu moves that were used by Kakashi and Lee against himself, Sasuke having used the Sharingan in one of those occasions to copy the moves, defeated Yoroi. Sasuke's "Shishi Rendan" (Lion Combo) proved effective in achieving victory. Afterwards Kakashi took Sasuke away to seal his curse seal.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Aburame Shino and Abumi Zaku, please step down."

As Shino made his way down, Naruto and Hinata wished him good luck. The bug user smiled underneath his collar when he saw that Naruto and Hinata were standing together. They weren't together yet, but he knew those two were sure as hell getting there. Shino looked at his opponent; he could see that Zaku was arms were both still badly injured.

"I will give you one warning and only one. Give up now and you won't regret it." Shino said in his monotone voice.

"Like hell, I'm not just going to give up to you." Zaku said angrily.

"Let me tell you something else Zaku. I don't like you…you hurt one of my teammates and you caused a great deal of anguish to a good friend…" Naruto smiled under his mask when he realized Shino meant him.

"You caused much pain for them both. Because of that I will finish what was started a while ago, you will lose those arms." Shino said with killing intent.

The fight started and much to anyone's surprise Zaku was able to use one of his arms. He actually managed to fire a shot off at Shino. The bug user was injured but not severely. It was shown what Shino was capable of with his special insects. Before long Zaku found himself surrounded by chakra consuming Kikaichu, the one armed Oto-nin decided he would use both his arms to try and destroy the bugs.

BOOOM!!

Zaku's forearms fell off in a ragdoll fashion as his arms exploded from the inside. As Shino proceeded to knock out Zaku at close range, the bug user revealed that he had plugged up the holes in Zaku's hands with his insects. Shino won and Zaku was taken away by the medical-nins to the hospital.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Tsurugi Misumi and Sabaku no Kankurou, please step down."

The other member of Kabuto's team and Gaara's older brother stepped down. While this was happening Kakashi had proceeded to seal off Sasuke's Curse Seal, Orochimaru appeared telling him sealing of the seal would be pointless. Despite threatening Orochimaru with his Raikiri, the Snake-sannin left laughing.

The match between Kankurou and Misumi had some interesting twists, Misumi revealed he could dislocate all of his bones and use chakra to move his body. Wrapping around and constricting Kankurou like a snake, Misumi believed he had won. However Kankurou revealed that he wasn't the one being strangled but his puppet Karasu instead. The roles were revered and Misumi was now the constricted one and was being strangled. Kankurou was declared the winner and his opponent was taken away to the hospital. All the genin who were watching decided that they were going to have to be careful when going up against him.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, please step down."

The two former friends turned rivals started off their match with taijutsu. Memories of friendship and rivalry flashed by for the two kunoichi, both had made the decision to fight each other as kunoichi and the not rivals for the affection of one boy's heart. The fight was intense and Ino soon found herself outmatched by Sakura's more refined chakra control in use with taijutsu.

Eventually after the two kunoichi made their personal declarations and some hair being cut. Ino used her Shintenshin no Jutsu to try and take over Sakura's body. Luckily Inner Sakura came into play. The match ended in a tie with a double knockout. Both kunoichi however were not injured enough to need to be carried off to the hospital, so both remained behind to watch the rest of the matches.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Tenten and Sabaku no Temari, please step down."

Tenten and Temari stepped down. Temari had a cocky smirk on her face and Tenten was ready to fight. The fight would turn out to be a fast and somewhat one-sided fight. Tenten used her summoning scrolls to summon out various bladed weapons. However every time Tenten launched them at her opponent, Temari merely used wind manipulation to send the weapons off course. Tenten used everything she had but in the end Temari defeated her.

Temari was about to send Tenten off in a worse condition than she would have been left in from her defeat, luckily Lee and to everyone's surprise Neji went down to catch Tenten. The weapon mistress would then be taken away by the medic-nins.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Nara Shikamaru and Tsuchi Kin, please step down."

Despite his own personal objections of not wanting to fight, Shikamaru reluctantly went ahead with his match. Unknown to everyone, right from the start Shikamaru was already calculating a means of possible victory. Kin had used her own special noise based techniques to throw off Shikamaru. However the match ended in Shikamaru's favor. Through a combination of his "Kage Mane no Jutsu" (Shadow Imitation Technique) and strategizing, Shikamaru knocked out his opponent through a head collision with the wall. Kin was knocked out and carried off to the hospital.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba, step down now."

Naruto was about to go down until he looked at Hinata and under his mask he gave a sad smile.

"Sorry this is going to happen. I didn't want to fight any of your teammates. It's okay if you cheer for your team and not me." Naruto said a little sadly.

"I-I do hope t-that you both come out of t-this okay but…" Hinata quickly pulled Naruto's mask down and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"…just in case, for luck." Hinata said blushing furiously.

Kurenai looked at the seen with mixed feelings. She knew that Hinata would be in a sort of dilemma in regards to her feelings for Naruto and her need to support for her teammate. But Kurenai knew that Hinata would have more support for her love interest. And deep down Kurenai didn't want to admit, but being a sister/mother figure for the young Hyuuga heiress. She wanted Hinata to be happy and she knew that she would be the happiest with Naruto. On a side not Kurenai cursed herself for not taking out her camera to take a shot of the little kiss scene, after all it just looked so damn cute for Kurenai.

Kiba of course noticed the little kiss and grumbled to himself. "I wish I had a girl to kiss me good luck…" Kiba then took a quick a glance at the women in the arena, Kiba of course ignored the women who already had an interest in other men. "…like maybe her…" Kiba looked at Temari, the Suna kunoichi of course noticed and figured the Inuzuka had perverted thoughts.

"Look at me like that again dog boy and you are so dead." Temari said as she brandished her fan.

"Never mind then…fantastic…all the women here are either interested in someone else or they will hurt me badly if I look at them the wrong way." Kiba thought grimly.

XXXXXXXXXX

The match started and Naruto and Kiba stared at each other. Although at some point the two genin may had been friends. Things changed over the years. Kiba viewed Naruto as nothing more than a dead last. And Naruto could've cared less. But now Kiba viewed Naruto as more than a dead last. He saw both Naruto and Sasuke as some kind of threat. He didn't think either of them was human after their displays of power.

"I don't know what you are Naruto or what you've become but I'm gonna take you down." Kiba said.

Naruto felt the sting of Kiba's words. "Dog breathe, I could don't care what you think of me or what you think I am. But you're not getting in my way. I'm going to be the one to advance to next part of this exam." Naruto said with determination.

"We'll see about that."

Kiba did some seals and concentrated his chakra. He soon gained some animal like physical traits. Kiba dropped down to all fours and in a burst of speed charged at Naruto. The blonde decided to match his speed and used a Shunshin no Jutsu. The two genin disappeared for just a moment and then reappeared colliding with each other.

Kiba had his elbow rammed into Naruto's stomach, while Naruto had his fist right into Kiba's face. Both genin flew back from the attacks they had used on each other. Kiba rubbed his cheek and Naruto coughed a little from the impact to his stomach.

"That wasn't too bad dobe, but you're going down." Kiba quickly charged again with Akamaru behind him, the Inuzuka readied up a smoke bomb.

POOF!!

Naruto was surrounded by smoke. He couldn't see anything at all. Suddenly the blonde was being struck all over. Naruto had to get out of the smoke. When he did Akamaru lunged at him and sunk his teeth into Naruto.

"Looks like he fell for the trap…" Kiba thought as he jumped out of the smoke. To Kiba's liking he found a downed Naruto and a happy Akamaru. Kiba's canine companion ran towards him.

"Good job Akamaru…" Before Kiba could finish Akamaru jumped up and then…

POOF!!

"Psyche!" Naruto yelled out as he dropped his Henge and drop kicked Kiba in the face.

The Inuzuka hurtled to the ground. When he got up he saw that a Kage bunshin held up Akamaru by his legs, the pooch was whimpering.

"Gotcha!" Naruto said triumphantly.

Kiba got up and looked at Naruto with anger. "You think a lucky hit means you've won?!" Kiba yelled out.

"No, but I'm sure as hell close to it." Naruto said jokingly.

"Well guess what, I'm pulling all the stops." Kiba said as he took out a solider pill and threw it to Akamaru who swallowed it.

The canine's fur became red. Akamaru broke out of the bunshin's grasp and rejoined his partner. Kiba swallowed a solider pill and allowed Akamaru to jump on top of his back. With a burst of chakra, Kiba went through another set of seals.

"_Son you might wanna be careful with him now." _

"Juujin Bunshin!! (Beast-Man Clone)"

Kiba had a more animal like look to him and Akamaru transformed into a perfect copy of Kiba. They both grinned at Naruto and then got ready to attack. Naruto drew out his staff, preparing for anything that might be thrown at him.

"Gatsuuga!! (Dual Piercing Fang)"

Like the Tsuuga, Kiba and his copy both started to spin in a rapid pace. They flew into Naruto like a pair of powerful drills. Naruto was knocked around by the attacks multiple times. Each time Naruto got up and stood his ground from the attacks.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said as she looked at the fight with worry.

"This doesn't look too good Sensei." Sakura said to Kakashi.

"I know it looks bad, but Naruto will manage. He won't let anything stop him from his goals." Kakashi said.

Naruto had finally stopped Kiba and Akamaru's assault with his staff. He held back both Kiba and Akamaru's claws. Naruto glared at the two and they glared back. The duo then jumped back ready to attack again.

"This is pathetic; you can't do anything against our attacks. You're weaker than me, how can you expect to be Hokage, huh?" Kiba taunted.

"You wanna call me weak again? What makes you think my other charka won't even the plain field or even end the match?" Naruto said, Kiba and Akamaru both flinched at hearing Naruto might use Kyuubi's chakra, blonde saw their reactions and laughed.

"What the hell is so damn funny?!" Kiba yelled out.

"Sorry, I just had to see if you would piss yourself. Don't worry I'd never use that chakra so recklessly again. But I will tell you this, I am going to beat you." Naruto said with determination.

"We'll see about that! Gatsuuga!!"

Kiba and Akamaru attacked once more. Their attack was far more aggressive and relentless. Naruto was knocked down once more but no sooner got back up on his feet.

"Those attacks of his are strong but let's see him use it when his feet can't move." Naruto thought as he readied up some seals.

Kiba and Akamaru saw this and attacked once more. They didn't want to chance anything with Naruto. So they decided not to allow Naruto a chance to use his jutsus. Naruto had to do something to buy at least some amount of time.

"I hate to do this to it…" Naruto thought as readied up his staff and threw it like spear at Kiba and Akamaru. The two separated to dodge the weapon.

The momentary separation gave Naruto enough time to make the seals needed. Kiba and Akamaru regrouped and charged head on. Naruto inhaled and readied his jutsu.

"Suiton: Mizuame Nabara!!"

Naruto shot out of his mouth a jet of water on the ground a few feet ahead of Kiba and Akamaru. Kiba was about to taunt that Naruto missed but then he couldn't move any further on his feet, neither could Akamaru who was next to him.

"Sorry Kiba but you and your partner are stuck. I didn't shoot the water at you because I didn't need to. Now let's see you use your Gatsuuga with your feet glued to the ground."

Kiba and Akamaru struggled to move but couldn't. They were stuck, and now Naruto was ready to end the fight. The blonde ran forward and concentrated chakra to his feet so he wouldn't get stuck to his own jutsu. Naruto jumped into the air and right when he was about to land in between Kiba and Akamaru, he spilt his legs kicking both Kiba and Akamaru in the head.

The Inuzuka and his canine companion both ended up falling over the attack and landed on the water. Now their whole bodies were stuck to the ground. Naruto smiled as Hayate declared him the winner. The medical-nin's had a hell of a time trying to pry Kiba and his partner off the ground. But eventually they got them out, on the way out Kiba was angered that he had lost.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto made his way back up the stands. The blonde had gotten praise from his teammate and sensei. Hinata herself was glad that Naruto was okay. Shino gave Naruto a nod of approval as well. When Hinata saw the injuries Naruto had see offered to patch them up. Naruto of course reminded Hinata of his healing factor, before Hinata could insist on patching Naruto up, the next match up was called.

"Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji, please come up."

Hinata looked at Naruto. "I-it looks like I'm up…"

Naruto put his hand on Hinata's shoulder and looked in her eyes. In all honesty Naruto didn't want Hinata to go up against Neji. It wasn't because he didn't believe in her; it was what Neji might do. From what Minato had told him about the Hyuuga and from what Hinata told him, as well as what Naruto saw personally of how Neji acted, Naruto figured that Neji didn't want to incur the wrath of the Main house by purposely attacking Hinata. However because of the circumstances, Neji might use the exam as an excuse to cause some serious damage, where Hinata's intention would be to beat Neji, the Branch members intent might be something more fatal.

"For luck…" Naruto said as he pulled his mask down and kissed Hinata on the cheek.

"Now go kick some ass!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

Hinata blushed but didn't have to put so much effort into not fainting; it seemed she was getting used to it. Kurenai cursed herself once more for not being ready again and missed out on another cute photo opportunity.

Hinata went down to meet her cousin. Neji just gave an uncaring look. On the inside he couldn't wait to show that he was better than the heir to the clan. Hinata didn't want to fight Neji but she had to show him and everyone that she wasn't weak. Hinata wasn't going to hesitate, she had Naruto behind her and that was all that mattered.

"So it seems that you and the dead last are getting so close together now." Neji said in a mocking manner.

"N-neji-nii-san, do not talk a-about Naruto-kun that way." Hinata said sternly.

"So it seems that you don't stutter as much as you used too. No matter, give up now, if you don't, then don't say I didn't give fare warning." Neji said as he activated his Byakugan.

Hinata didn't flinch she wasn't going to be intimidated, not anymore. "I-I will not give up. You can't intimidate m-me Neji." Hinata said as she activated her Byakugan.

"That's right Hinata; don't let him put you down. Show him what you can do." Naruto thought as he watched.

The match started and both Hinata and Neji got into their Juuken stances. The two Hyuugas came at each other with determination to win. The attacks were fast and constant; it only took one good hit to cause serious damage. Both Hinata and Neji exchanged and dodged each others attacks. Neither was letting up on the offensive. However Neji got in a hit. Hinata soon found her moves becoming sluggish. Neji took advantage and delivered another strike.

"No Hinata!" Naruto yelled out.

Hinata fell back coughing up blood. The damage was done and the internal injuries were severe if Hinata were to get another direct hit it maybe fatal. But the young Hyuuga didn't stand down. She stood up despite her injuries, Hinata struggled but she would not fall.

"Forfeit, there is no point in continuing." Neji said.

Everyone watched in shock and amazement. Some of the jounin talked about the effectiveness of the Juuken style. It was also mentioned how Neji was a genius among the Hyuugas and how it turned out that he could see all the tenketsu. Everyone voiced their worries of Hinata losing and possibly dieing.

"Hinata!!" Naruto yelled out, everyone stared. "Don't give up! I believe in you!" Naruto cheered on.

"Naruto-kun is watching me. He believes in me…thank you Naruto-kun…another reason why I love you." Hinata stared at Neji with renewed determination.

She hurt all over and it was hard to breathe. But Hinata would continue on to fight. Kurenai was surprised to see Hinata's eyes the way they were now. The crimson eyed jounin remembered how Hinata had always given up and would fail in her missions and exercises. At least that's how it was, but Kurenai knew that Naruto had changed her. The blonde was Hinata's source of determination.

"I will not…forfeit…I won't give up, I will never give up…" Hinata said in between breathes.

Hinata charged back in. She sent one strike after another. Determined to win, determined to show that she was different and not weak, Hinata would fight to the end. Neji found it harder to dodge the attacks; however he still avoided the attacks. It was only one opening in Hinata's attack and Neji took it. He sent another powerful strike directly to Hinata's chest. Hinata collapsed and fell to the ground.

"Proctor please end this match it is over." Neji said as he turned around.

Naruto had a pained expression on his face; he couldn't bear to see Hinata the way she was now. The blonde knew Hinata wouldn't have wanted him to give up on her. And that was exactly what Naruto was going to do. He wasn't going to stop believing in her. Everyone thought it was over, not Naruto.

Hinata felt tired and she could barely move, she was about to lose consciousness, until she heard a voice. "Don't stop! Get up Hinata! You didn't give up on me; I won't give up on you!!" Naruto yelled out.

"Naruto-kun…you're still there cheering me on…even though I'm down…thank you Naruto-kun…thank you so much…" Hinata had tears fall down from her eyes as she started to move.

"I have to get up…I have to…you have shown me so much support in the past when you didn't know that you were supporting me…to now…Naruto-kun thank you…I love you so much…"

Everyone was shocked and Naruto only smiled under his mask. Hinata was once more on her feet; Hayate stopped his declaration of the winner. It looked as if Hinata would fall over any moment.

"Why do you still do this? From the time of your birth to when your responsibility of the Hyuuga clan was put on you, you have always hated yourself for being weak. People cannot change, that is destiny that is fate." Neji said sternly.

"No Neji…the one suffering in the destiny of the Main and Branch house of the Hyuuga's is you." Hinata said.

Something inside of Neji snapped. Everyone could see the pure anger rise up in his face. Neji charged forward in anger. Everybody stared in disbelief at what was about to happen. The jounin's were going to have to act fast or else Neji would kill Hinata. But even before they could do anything, a blur shot across the arena. The arm Neji would use to strike down Hinata was now held in an iron clad grip.

Naruto was now standing in between Neji and Hinata. The blonde held Neji's arm and refused to let go, Neji could feel the crushing pressure on his arm. If Naruto really wanted to he could at that moment brake Neji's arm in so many different ways at once. Naruto growled at Neji like a wild animal whose mate and cubs were being threatened.

"If you take more step towards Hinata, **I will kill you**…" It took a while for Neji to realize it, but the moment Naruto appeared in front of him the distinct sound of birds chirping was heard.

All the nins watching stared in awe at the ball of lighting that was in Naruto's other hand. It crackled and made the sound of birds chirping. Neji could now see that Naruto's eyes were blood red with slits, glowing.

"I don't care about the consequences…I don't care if I'm executed for this. But if you try it…if you try to kill her…you will die at my hands." Naruto said as he let go of Neji's arm and turned around.

Neji stood in shock and disbelief. He didn't want to admit it but he was only a footstep away from being killed. Naruto quickly caught Hinata as she fell. The blonde held her while the medic-nins rushed in.

"N-Naruto-kun…I did good right? I showed everyone that changed didn't I?" Hinata asked as she coughed up some blood.

"You did good sweetheart…you did good…" Naruto's voice cracked a little, the blonde started to feel guilty for constantly cheering Hinata on, telling her to get back up and receiving more injuries.

"I'm so sorry Hinata…I." Hinata quickly reached up despite her pain to quiet Naruto.

"Don't…you did what was best…thank you Naruto-kun…" Hinata said weakly as the medic-nins moved her to a stretcher.

Naruto watched as Hinata was being carried off. He would go with her to the hospital; he didn't care about leaving without permission. Hinata was and would always be there for him, Naruto would return the favor. But before he would leave, Naruto turned around to see Neji still standing.

"It was pointless in you cheering her on. You only ended up bringing her closer to her own death. If anyone is to blame it's you." Neji said with the intent hitting Naruto where it hurt.

"That maybe true…" Naruto said, the pain of the reality of his actions were felt. "But you did something that no one should ever do..." Naruto walked over to a spot of blood that came from Hinata.

"I knew that you would want to fight Hinata. I knew that you would use this exam as an excuse to hurt her…but I never thought you would be willing to kill her. You went against your own family…against your own blood." Naruto reached down and held Hinata's spilled blood in his hand.

"I vow on her blood, I will beat you." Naruto said as his red eyes still glared at Neji.

The blonde turned around and headed in the direction the medic-nins left. Kakashi looked at his student and stepped in front of him. Naruto just sent a glare at Kakashi that said "out of my way." Kakashi didn't move and instead gave Naruto a nervous eye-smile.

"Now I know you're worried about Hinata…but you're going to need to stay here for the duration of this."

Naruto merely brought up his hand and extended his index finger. "I am only going to say it once Kakashi-sensei, get out of my way. I am going to be by Hinata's side until she recovers. She never left my side and neither will I. You tell me I have to stay and **I will hurt you**…" Naruto said emphasizing the last four words.

Kakashi gulped nervously. "I could subdue Naruto; then again I know he can do a lot of damage before I can properly restrain him. And then there's the little fact that if Rin-chan catches on she might hurt me before agreeing to my actions." Kakashi glanced at Sarutobi hoping that the aged Hokage might have something to say.

The Hokage glanced back at Kakashi and his expression simply said. "Your choice if you want to try and stop him."

"You win Naruto-kun, but at least leave a Kage Bunshin or two, behind so you will know what to do before the final part of the exam." Kakashi said defeated.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto had done as Kakashi suggested and formed some Kage bunshins to stay behind and watch the rest of the matches. As Naruto left the announcement of the next match was made.

"Rock Lee and Sabaku no Gaara, step down now."

Gaara made his way down while Lee was making a declaration to Sakura that he would win. Some of the genin had a grim look their faces and assumed the worst would happen to Lee. Gai decided he would give some useful advice to Lee, sorta.

"Lee listen closely to what I am about to say." Gai said with the most serious tone he could use, if you can call it that.

"That gourd on his back…"

"Yes Gai-sensei, what is it?" Lee asked as if his life depended on it.

"Is really dangerous, be careful around it." Everybody fell on their backs when they heard Gai give his advice.

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me!" The Naruto bunshins shouted together.

"Hey thick brows, you want some advice?" One of the Naruto's bunshins yelled out.

"What is it Naruto-kun?" Lee asked curious.

"That guy…" The bunshin pointed at Gaara. "Can use sand offensively and defensively, the disadvantage to it is speed. That sand can only go so fast, if you can. Hit him fast and hit him hard. You have a chance to win, take it. Don't give him any opening or you will regret it." The bunshin said while Lee scribbled it down on a note paid. The bunshin's eye brow started to twitch.

"You idiot, you don't have time to read notes in a fight! Just remember what I said dammit!"

Lee gave a salute to Naruto and Gai and then leaped down to face his opponent. Taking what Naruto said to heart. The spandex-nin rushed in with blinding speed. Gaara's sand defensively rose up to protect its master. One thing led to another and Lee broke through the sand to deliver some critical hits. However Gaara already had his sand armor on. Not taking any chances and a quick nod of approval from Gai. Lee disposed of his weights and used his now unrestrained speed to really lay in the assault.

After successfully using the Omote Renge it was thought that Lee won. However it turned out that Gaara had left an empty shell for Lee. The real Gaara appeared behind Lee and took advantage of Lee's disorientation. The spandex-nin was quickly being overwhelmed and in the end Lee had only one option left. Gai revealed that Lee only uses taijutsu because of his inability to use ninjutsu or genjutsu. It was revealed that Lee had endlessly trained day after to day to make up for his shortcomings.

Using the five of the eight Celestial Gates, Lee was able to break through Gaara's defense and use the "Ura Renge" (Reverse Lotus). The attack proved devastating but with a momentary lapse in assault. Gaara barely avoided the final blow. With Lee nearly disabled Gaara was going to end the match with a fatality. Lee's left leg and arm were now disabled, if Gai hadn't intervened when he did, it could have ended worse. Even after losing consciousness Lee still stood. The medic-nins carried off Lee, while Gai was being told Lee could never be a ninja again.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Akimichi Chouji and Kinuta Dosu, please come down."

The Oto-nin and Chouji faced off in the arena. With promise of BBQ all he could eat, Chouji was more than willing to fight the Oto-nin. Dosu found himself in a sort of disadvantage without his gauntlet. Because of that the sound based attacks he used were severely cut down in power. In the end the match finished with a double knockout. Chouji was unable to continue fighting and Dosu was out cold.

XXXXXXXXXX

With the preliminary matches over, all the remaining genin gathered to hear what was going to happen next. In one month a tournament would be held where representatives from different countries would watch. Even though there could only be one winner, if a genin could show they had what it takes to be a chunnin, they could still be promoted even if they lost.

Numbers were drawn by each of the genin. Naruto's bunshins drew their number and looked at it. The arrangements of the opponents were then shown to everyone.

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji

Aburame Shino vs. Sabaku no Kankurou

Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku no Gaara

The bunshins all smiled underneath their masks, Naruto was going to get first crack at Neji. With that said the bunshins burst into smoke to transfer the information to Naruto. Everyone else left and headed off, some were going to start training for their matches immediately.

XXXXXXXXXX

At the hospital that everyone was taken to, Naruto sat impatiently outside the operating room. The blonde was hoping that worst didn't come to worst. Naruto knew that Rin would be operating on Hinata and of course he knew that Rin was one of the best doctors/medical-nins in Konoha. While waiting the memories of the bunshins came into Naruto's mind. The blonde smiled, he was going up against Neji.

"It looks like I'm going to get the chance to back up my vow." Naruto said to himself quietly.

XXXXXXXXXX

In an undisclosed location Kabuto delivered his report to Orochimaru. For a moment the Snake-Sannin looked displeased. However an idea came to him.

"ku ku ku, so it seems that my little trump card for our attack on Konoha has some flaws that could be easily exploited." Orochimaru said.

"Yes Orochimaru-sama, it seems that Gaara-san's sand is at a particular disadvantage against fast opponents."

"Hm not only that is seems that Naruto-kun has unexpectedly started using the Kyuubi's power and to rather impressive extent." Orochimaru said contemplating what to do next.

"What are we going to do Orochimaru-sama? Gaara-san is still needed for the attack on Konoha." Kabuto said in a matter of fact tone.

"I think I have a little plan that might just work…ku ku ku." Orochimaru said in a sinister manner.

AN: _Sorry that this chapter had nothing but downsized fight scenes. But it's not like I wanted to try and write canon fights. I couldn't think of anything unique to make the fights different and longer. Even when I tired to make Naruto vs. Kiba longer it only turned out semi-canon. _


	16. The thing is I love you

**Very Important Author's Note, so read it!**

AN: _Hey guys, I hate to be a bearer of bad news. But this will be the last chapter that I will post _for_ a long while. The least amount of time you guys will have to wait will be about __**13 weeks**__. The reason why it will be a long time until I post another chapter is that I will be leaving for __**Boot Camp**__ on _**June 23, 2008**_ to become a US Marine. I'm sorry I got to make you guys wait and all, but duty calls. Please don't hate me guys; I'm just serving my country._

_Now before I go, there are a few reviewers who I would like to thank for their continued support and reading of my fanfic _**Shinku Arashi**_. The reviewers are the following…_

_**Dragon Man 180: **__You're awesome man. I appreciate all of your reviews. I'm glad you enjoy reading my fic. _

_**mdizzle: **__I gotta thank you again for suggesting that NaruHina scene early on in my fic._

_**GraityTheWizard:**__ I'm glad that you had put my fanfic in your C2._

_**Spedclass: **__You almost always type the same thing for a review, but I'm glad my story is good enough for you to feel the same about it with every chapter._

_**To all reviewers:**__ Thank you for all your continued support and response. When I get back I'll put up a chapter as soon as possible. _

Chapter 15: The thing is I love you

Naruto waited outside for the operating room to open up. He was hoping that when Rin came out it would be good news. While waiting Naruto thought about what happened during the match. He had cheered on Hinata, which was something she wanted. But Naruto also knew that Hinata wouldn't have gotten such fatal injuries if she hadn't gone that far with the match.

"_**Hey Yondy, think your son went a little far with the whole threatening his sensei thing?"**_

"_I'm surprised that you would ask something like that…but to answer your question. From a professional shinobi's point of view, it was rather reckless. But as someone who had been in a similar situation, I did the exact same thing."_

"_**When was this?"  
**__"When Kushina-chan took on Sasuke-san's father, Fugaku, the results were well. I really wanted to kill Fugaku."_

"_**It's a damn shame you didn't, your son wouldn't have to deal with such a stuck up ass."**_

XXXXXXXXXX

"Naruto-kun, you're still here?" Haku asked as she saw that Naruto was still waiting.

"Oh hey Haku-chan, of course I'm still here. Rin-chan is still operating on Tenshi…I mean Hinata-chan." Naruto said.

Haku looked at Naruto and smiled in admiration. "You really do care a lot for her don't you?" Haku asked.

"Yeah I do…" Naruto said. "Just how much I care about her…how much I feel for her, I'm not sure…" Naruto thought.

"You know I told her about furball." Naruto said.

Haku had a surprised look. "You did? How did she take it?"

Naruto took off his mask and smiled, Haku blushed at the sight. "I thought that because the circumstances were different. I feared that she might not have understood the same way…I don't know how wrong I was…kinda hard to think someone wouldn't understand when they've cared about you longer than you could imagine…" Naruto said.

"…She accepted me Haku-chan…she didn't care about what was inside of me. I guess she always had accepted me. I'm happy that she has always been there for me. But I hate the fact that I always hurt her."

Haku looked at Naruto surprised. "How is it that you hurt her?"

"I suppose I could go on and on about it. But I have to take some of that blame for Hinata's current condition. I kept telling her to continue in her fight and look at her now, she's in the ER."

Haku saw that Naruto was feeling miserable for what happened to Hinata. She didn't want to see Naruto like that. Haku had obviously taken a liking to Naruto and maybe even more than that. She wasn't too sure of what to say, so she decided to with an action instead.

"Naruto-kun it isn't your fault. Hinata-san probably wouldn't want you to blame yourself." Haku said as she gently hugged Naruto.

Before either person could say anything, the distinct sound of glass breaking and a scream was heard. Naruto broke from Haku's hug and took off to investigate, Haku followed behind. Running through the halls of the hospital, Haku and Naruto weren't too sure of where sound came from.

"You're not taking me with you!! I've had enough of that damn village and that snake!!"

As soon as Naruto and Haku heard the voice, they found the room the voice came from, it was the room that the defeated Oto genin were taken to. Once they entered, Naruto and Haku found Zaku and Dosu being carried off by a group of Oto-nins, there was at least five. The kunoichi of the team, Kin, was struggling to stand. It was obvious that she was fighting off her attempted kidnappers. And in front of her was an Oto-nin who had a sendon stuck in his shoulder.

"You fucking little bitch, you think you can leave your village? One way or the other you're coming with us." The Oto-nin with the senbon stuck in his shoulder said, he was about to reach and pull out the weapon stuck in him until a shuriken flew into his hand.

"Nobody's taking anyone out of here." Naruto said as he and Haku appeared in front of Kin.

"Dammit we've been found we have to get out of here now!" One of the Oto-nins yelled out.

"No, we have to get them all, you two take Dosu and Zaku and go. The rest of us will have to deal with them and get Kin."

Before Naruto or Haku could do anything, two Oto-nins carrying Dosu and Zaku took off, they left through the window.

"P-please don't let them take me." Kin begged as she started to lose balance, Naruto and Haku hadn't noticed immediately in the partly dark hospital room but Kin was bleeding and her hospital gown had been stained with blood.

"Those bastards, what the hell are they doing to their own genin?!" Naruto thought.

"Let's hurry up and get her." One of the Oto-nins said as two others followed behind with weapons drawn.

"Haku-chan keep an eye on Kin-chan." Haku only nodded as Naruto pulled out the top section of his staff, drawing out one of his kodachi.

Naruto charged towards the Oto-nins. The blonde sidestepped and dodged the first nins attempt at slashing Naruto with his kunai. Once Naruto dodged the attack, rather then go after the first one, Naruto ran forward. The next nin swung his sword at Naruto, while the blonde dived down using his left hand to push off the ground and did a flip in the air.

Avoiding the second Oto-nin's attack, Naruto landed on his feet. Naruto quickly jumped back to avoid the third nins sword swipe. The second Oto-nin charged in from behind to try and attack Naruto with his back turned. Not even looking back, Naruto ducked his head to dodge the attack. The same time Naruto ducked, he drew out his second kodachi in a reverse grip. Naruto quickly spun around and sliced the Oto-nins neck wide open.

The nin fell to the ground dead. Once more another nin tried to take advantage of Naruto's turned back and came at him. Turning around quickly, Naruto sent a front kick with his left foot into the nin's face. The sole of Naruto's geta smashed into the nin's face causing him to fall back a little. As soon as Naruto's left foot returned, the blonde moved his right leg and sent his shin crashing into the side of the nin's head knocking him out. The last nin was about to go back after Naruto until a dozen senbon pierced his back, he fell to the ground face first.

"Thanks Haku-chan, though I could've handled that last one on my own." Naruto said jokingly.

Naruto then walked over to Kin. The Oto kunoichi was down on the ground, she could barely stand. Haku was looking her over to see what was wrong.

"Thank…you…" Kin weakly said.

"Is she going to be alright Haku-chan?" Naruto asked with concern.

"She's going to be fine; she hasn't lost too much blood. But it looks like those nins tried to drug her." Haku said as she pointed to a small dart that was in Kin's arm.

As Naruto and Haku helped the girl up, hospital staff and shinobi came in demanding to know what had happened. The two explained what had happened and wanted Konoha shinobi to keep guards posted on her room. The Konoha shinobi did as told, it was obvious Kin had some vital information that would be needed.

XXXXXXXXXX

Once Naruto finished explaining everything to the Konoha shinobi, Haku decided that she would continue to monitor Kin. Haku told Naruto it was okay to go, Naruto thanked Haku and went back to the waiting room. Once the blonde nin made it back to the waiting room, Rin got out of the ER.

"Rin-chan!" Naruto shouted. "Is Hinata going to be okay?!" Naruto asked frantically, having to wait was killing the blonde on the inside.

"She's going to fine Naruto-kun, it was a good thing she was brought here in time or else it could have been worse. Her condition is stable now, it might be a while tell she wakes up though." Rin said.

"Rin-chan…" Naruto looked around a little nervously. "Can I go to the room she's resting in? I want to stay by her side." Naruto said.

"Well Naruto-kun, it's against certain policy for you to do this…" Rin could see that Naruto started to lower his head sadly. "But I think they can make an acceptation for once." Rin said smiling; Naruto looked up excitedly and hugged Rin.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Naruto said happily.

"Okay, okay, you're welcome, but keep it down. We don't want the other hospital staff to find out now." Rin said with a small giggle.

"Even if he didn't ask I was going to offer it to Naruto-kun either way. And even if the staff finds out they'll make an acceptation. And if they don't want to because of Naruto's tenant, then they're going to have some problems." Rin thought.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto sat on a chair near Hinata's hospital bed. He looked at Hinata with a smile. The blonde was glad she was alright. Now he was going to wait until she was awake. Naruto gently brushed some of Hinata's hair away from her face.

"She looks so peaceful when she sleeps. And she looks…well…cute." Naruto was surprised of himself.

"_**Having certain thoughts of Hyuuga-chan?" **_

"S-shut up, that's not it!" Naruto yelled to Kyuubi.

XXXXXXXXXX

It had been about two days now since Hinata was taken to the hospital. Since then Naruto had not left Hinata's side. The few times he left was to use the restroom. Food was brought to him courtesy of Rin and Ayame. While waiting for Hinata to wake up, Naruto thought about how he would approach his match with Neji.

"_Well son as you can tell, Neji, like any especially skilled Hyuuga, his specialty lies in taijutsu." _

"If that's the case then I'll just beat his ass in taijutsu." Naruto said to his father.

"_Are you sure about that son? Your taijutsu without the use of your kenjutsu style is only above average. Neji's Juuken will have you outmatched."_

"Then I guess maybe I need someone to train me in taijutsu."

"_Why taijutsu son?"_

"Because Neji needs to be beaten at his own game, like Sasuke, he's got a superiority complex among other things. The only way to break Neji out that is to show him that his fighting style isn't superior to everything."

Minato was about to comment on Naruto's decision, until the sound of Hinata waking up was heard. Naruto got out of his seat and quickly went over to Hinata. When the young Hyuuga heiress awoke, she was very surprised and relieved to see Naruto beside her.

"Hey Tenshi-chan, nice to see your awake." Naruto said gently.

"W-were you here the whole time Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah…you've been out for a few days now." Naruto said as he got closer to Hinata.

"I'm sorry Tenshi-chan…" Naruto said in a sad tone.

"S-sorry for what?" Hinata asked not sure what Naruto was saying.

"It's my fault you were so badly beaten. I…"

Hinata cut off Naruto. "N-naruto-kun I already told you it's alright. You d-did what was best. And I'm glad…I'm happy that you supported me."

Naruto could only smile and hug Hinata; the young Hyuuga was of course surprised but enjoyed the hug. "N-naruto-kun?" Hinata said wondering why Naruto hugged her.

"Twice Tenshi-chan…" Naruto said. "Twice I almost lost my angel…" Hinata blushed profusely as Naruto said it.

"When you took the brunt of that sound attack instead of me and when you fought Neji. Both those times I feared for your life, I was afraid you were going to die." Naruto said.

Hinata looked at Naruto; she could see in his eyes that her love was so concerned and afraid of losing her. "Naruto-kun, he cares so much about me. I couldn't be any happier right now. Naruto-kun is right though, I could've died twice…and if I did I wouldn't have ever been able to tell Naruto-kun how I feel for him." Hinata thought grimly.

"N-naruto-kun…" Hinata realized it was now or never to tell Naruto her true feelings for him. "T-there was something I wanted to s-say to you b-back in the forest b-but I…"

Naruto pressed finger to Hinata's lip. "I have something that I need to tell you Tenshi-chan." Hinata wanted so badly to tell Naruto, but she only nodded to let Naruto continue.

"Both those times you were hurt, I was worried so much about you. I thought about what would happen if you had died…to be honest I don't what I would've done, how to feel…how to go on. When I thought you had actually died, I felt so much pain and anger. It hurt so much and I felt so much sadness as well, I had never been so sad in my entire life." Naruto's voice cracked a little, the blonde could see that Hinata was listening to everything he said.

"You showed me so much. You're so caring, you showed me companionship, and you're so kind to me. Most important you accepted me for who I am, what I have." Naruto paused to take off his mask.

"I heard this saying once Tenshi-chan, "You don't know what you've got until you've lost it." I didn't lose you, but I sure as hell came to close to it. And that's more than enough to show me what I got."

Before Hinata could ask Naruto what he meant exactly. The blonde nin gently caressed Hinata's face the same manner he did when Hinata had visited him in the hospital. Hinata didn't know what to do or what to say, she was lost in the deep blue sea of Naruto's eyes.

"I love you Hinata-chan…" Naruto said as his lips gently and quickly touched Hinata's soft lips.

"N-naruto-kun s-said h-he loved me! He j-just kissed me…before I-I could even tell him, h-he fell i-in love with me…"

As Naruto slowly pulled back and gave off a nervous smile. He could see tears start build up in Hinata's eyes. The lavender-eyed kunoichi started to shed tears and Naruto assumed the worst.

"Naruto-kun!!" Hinata yelled out her loves name as she sat upright on her hospital bed and pulled Naruto into a hug.

"I-I wanted t-to tell you t-that I…and y-you…you said that…" Hinata tried her best but couldn't say anything coherently.

"Hinata-chan calm down, I know it was sudden for me to say that. But I…" Naruto was cut off by Hinata.

"I love you too!!" Hinata yelled out.

"I-I wanted to tell you I love y-you…I always w-wanted to t-tell you…Because I've been in love with you f-for so long…and then you t-told me…" Hinata held Naruto tighter.

"So you always were in love with me, huh? You didn't give up on an idiot like me?" Naruto asked jokingly.

Hinata pulled back from the hug and all the will power she had, the young heiress kissed Naruto on the lips. "I-I could never stop being in love with y-you."

Naruto could only smile warmly. "Thank you…" Naruto said as he kissed Hinata once more. "Thank you for waiting so long for an idiot like me to fall in love with, for loving me, thank you my angel."

Naruto and Hinata's lips met once more. Their kiss was more passionate and lasted longer. Naruto licked Hinata's lips as he asked for entrance. Hinata allowed entrance and soon both found the feeling very pleasurable. When the kiss finished, Naruto and Hinata held each other for a while longer. Both were content, they never wanted to let the other go.

"_Well it looks like Hinata-san wins." _Minato smiled.

"_**Yeah but I doubt the other girls are gonna give up so easily."**_

"_Yeah you got a point."_

"_**Well it looks like your son is going to get laid soon." **_Kyuubi smiled in a perverted manner.

"_Why did you have to kill the moment you damn perverted fox?!" _Minato said as he punched Kyuubi in the face.

Unknown to both Naruto and Hinata, they were being watched from the door. The person watching quietly closed the small opening of the door without being noticed.

"I'm so happy that they're together now…" Rin said as she shed a tear of happiness.

"They're finally together; Naruto-kun has found his love. And Hinata-chan is finally with the one she loves. I'm just so happy for them." Rin thought as she started to shed a few more tears of happiness.

"Rin-chan what's wrong why are you crying?" Kakashi asked as he came into the hospital hallway and saw that his girlfriend had a few tears fall.

"Nothing, I'm just so happy right now." Rin said as she wrapped her arms around Kakashi and pressed her face against his neck.

XXXXXXXXXX

After a while, Hinata and Naruto reluctantly let go of each other. They both smiled at one another. Naruto then remembered what he was going to need to do for his fight with Neji; he also remembered he needed to tell Hinata.

"Tenshi-chan, I'm going to be fighting Neji in the first round of the finals." Naruto said.

"Y-you are?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to beat Neji. I am going to show him that no one is bound to their fate. Also I'm gonna beat the crap out him for what he did to you." Naruto said sternly.

"But Naruto-kun y-you don't have to do…" Naruto cut off Hinata.

"I'm sorry but he almost took you away from me. I am not going to let that go." Naruto said in a dead serious tone. "But I'm not going to kill him though!" Naruto said in a sudden joking manner.

Hinata smiled at Naruto's joke. "I guess I can't stop y-you, but be careful Naruto-kun. I know you're strong and skilled. But Neji-nii-san is pretty strong too. Like Sasuke-san, Neji is considered a prodigy." Hinata said with worry.

"Well then all the more reason to beat him down. Guys like him have a superiority complex that needs to be dealt with." Naruto said in a matter of fact manner.

"S-so what are you going to do then?" Hinata asked wondering what Naruto's plans were exactly.

"I'm going to beat him using taijutsu. Unfortunately…" Naruto lowered his head in sadness.

"I have to go train…and I don't want to leave your side." Naruto said, it couldn't be told whether or not Naruto's sad tone was genuine or if he was just trying to be cute.

"Don't worry a-about me so much. I don't want to be away from you either, but this is something you feel need to do, then do it. Besides well have each other even after this, right?"

Naruto answered the question with a kiss on the lips. "Of course we'll have each other after this. I love you too much; I never want to let you go."

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto had eventually left Hinata's hospital room. The blonde nin decided he was going to look for a particular shinobi for some help. Much to his own surprise he found him at the hospital.

"Kakahsi-sensei I need to talk to you about something." Naruto said.

"If it's about training sorry but I'm going to train Sasuke, besides I've already taught you a lot of what I already know." Kakashi said while rubbing the back of his head.

"Well I did want to talk to you about training. But I wanted ask you if you knew anyone that could help improve my taijutsu." Naruto said it looked like Kakashi had flinched for a moment from the question.

"Well I do have one person in mind, but you're not going to like it." Kakashi said nervously.

"Who is it?" Naruto wondered who it could be.

"I'm pretty sure you're familiar with his bowl cut, thick eyebrows, and green spandex."

Naruto frowned at who Kakashi was implying; suddenly a green blur appeared right next to Kakashi and Naruto.

"Is someone talking about my flames of youth?" Gai asked, scaring Naruto and Kakashi with his sudden appearance.

"Why yes as a matter of fact we are, Naruto-kun here needs taijutsu training. I was wondering if you could help with that." Kakashi said Gai had a massive grin on his face.

"So my eternal rival wants me to help his student train." Gai said almost triumphantly.

"Man, Gai isn't going to let this go. I am going to be tortured by this for a long time." Kakashi thought miserably.

"I will have to think about this Naruto-kun. I am not one to normally take on other students so soon. Especially since, I assume you plan on using what you learn against one of my other students/genin." Gai said.

"Please I need this, I'll do what ever you want me to do." Naruto said pleadingly.

"Hmm…" Gai went into a thinking pose. "If you are to learn taijutsu from me, then you are going to have to wear this!" Gai said as he pulled out a spare green spandex bodysuit.

"Uh…no…" Naruto said flatly, Gai lowered his shoulders in defeat.

"How come out of all of my students all Lee-kun is the only one that has ever worn it." Gai thought.

"Well I'm sorry then Naruto-kun, I may not be able to teach you then." Gai said as he walked away.

"Crap…" Naruto said.

XXXXXXXXXX

Gai had made his way to the room his student, Lee, was staying in. When the taijutsu master entered, he found Lee doing one handed pushups. It was obvious that Gai's mini-me student was struggling with his disabled limbs.

"Lee you should be resting in your bed or else you will risk burning out your flames of youth." Gai said.

"199…but…200…I have to…get to…three hundred…201." Lee said in between pushups.

"LEE!! Listen to your sensei and rest!" Gai yelled out, Lee did so and stopped where he was.

Gai and Lee both had some discussions about the "flames of youth." They also talked about ways for Lee to get better. Some rather ridiculous ideas were thought up. Sadly deep down both nins knew that a full recovery was next to impossible. Gai eventually told Lee about Naruto's need for training. Lee was surprised at first, but then the bowl cut genin decided to voice his opinion.

"Gai-sensei, I think you should help Naruto-kun."

"What was that my young pupil?" Gai asked not sure what he said.

"Naruto-kun wants to prove to Neji that a hard worker can beat a gifted genius, like me. He also wants revenge against Neji, if anything it is because Naruto-kun cares so much for Hinata-san. Naruto-kun's "flames of youth" burn brightly from his feelings for Hinata-san, Naruto-kun is going to need that training." Lee said.

Gai started to tear up a little. "My youthful student, your words have moved me. For that I will train Naruto-kun."

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto and Kakashi walked around the hospital for a little bit. When Kakashi said that Rin had told him about Naruto's little confession. Naruto was pretty surprised to hear that Rin was eavesdropping. Then again he didn't mind Rin knowing. Kakashi was quite happy for Naruto, in fact he was so happy he decided to give a copy of his favorite orange book. Naruto of course responded with a kick to the head for Kakashi.

"So I heard about what happened last night. Don't worry we got ANBU watching Kin-san now." Kakashi said.

"I wonder why those Oto-nins were drugging and kidnapping their own genin." Naruto said.

"Probably information control, those Oto genin must have known something and the higher ups from Oto wanted to keep just to themselves. But we won't know that until Kin-san wakes up."

Naruto and Kakashi were now near Sasuke's hospital room. Naruto then remembered what had happened to Sasuke back in the forest of death.

"Kakashi-sensei do you know what happened to Sasuke-teme back in the forest, what was that weird mark on his neck?"

"Well…" Kakashi paused for a moment. "This is a need to know basis only but considering your father is listening and he'll need to know this as well. You remember who Orochimaru is right?"

Naruto frowned under his mask. "Yeah I remember, Sannin who betrayed his village and the bastard who gave Mizuki-teme that vile."

"Yes, he was the one that gave Sasuke-kun that mark. It's called a curse seal." Kakashi said.

"_So that's what it was. I didn't think those seals would be that advanced. Then again it has been more than twelve years since Orochimaru betrayed Konoha. Obviously improvements were made." _

"The curse seal gives a person an immense amount of power. However the curse seal usually has a high chance of killing the person that receives it. If anything it was probably Sasuke-kun's will that allowed him to survive receiving the cure seal. The other problem with the seal is that the person using the power can be corrupted."

Naruto then remembered when Sasuke had attacked Kiba and the others. "So what are we going to do about the seal? Is there anyway to remove it?" Naruto asked.

"None at the moment that won't kill Sasuke-kun, luckily I sealed it off. As long as Sasuke-kun keeps his will and strength up, the curse seal won't be a problem." Kakashi said happily.

"Well that stubborn ass isn't going to let something like that be a problem for him." Naruto was about to take his leave when a familiar green blur appeared once again.

"Naruto-kun, I have thought it over. And I shall take you on as a temporary pupil. Meet me tomorrow at this spot, early morning okay?" Gai said as he handed Naruto a piece of paper that said where to go.

"Okay thank you Gai-sensei!" Naruto said excitedly.

"No don't thank me, thank Lee-kun. He was the one to convince me to train you." Gai said proud of Lee.

"Well I'll have to thank thick brows sometime later then." Naruto said as he left to tell Hinata the good news.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was nighttime in Konoha and the moon was full. Nearly everyone in Konoha had retired to their beds. Accept for a select few who stayed up late into the night. One of those people was Gekkou Hayate. The Special Jounin was quickly making his way back home; Hayate was out late due to having to write up some last minute reports on the preliminaries and filing some other papers that were Chunnin Exam related.

"I hope Yugao-chan isn't worried about me, well she shouldn't be." Hayate thought as he leaped building to building, suddenly something caught his eye. The Special Jounin hid himself and then approached what he saw quietly.

"So the arrangements are in place?"

"Yes our forces will ready to attack during the finals."

Hayate barely got a peek at who was talking but he immediately recognized them. It was the Konoha genin Yakushi Kabuto and the Suna jounin who was responsible for the Suna genin, Baki.

"An attack on Konoha?!" Hayate thought as he continued to listen on.

"Orochimaru-sama well be pleased to hear this." Kabuto said.

Hayate listened to everything that was said in the conversation. He learned that Orochimaru was the leader of Otogakure, as well Suna's plans to regain strength through destroying Konoha, and Kabuto being a spy for the sound village, he heard everything.

"I have to get this information to Hokage-sama fast." Hayate thought.

"Good then I will take my leave now." Baki said as he jumped off towards a nearby rooftop.

"Okay, as soon as Yakushi takes off I'm heading for the Hokage Tower. This is some serious intell and I…"

"You can come out now." Kabuto said, Hayate knew something bad was about to happen.

"I know you're there, why don't you just come out?" Kabuto said.

"Shit, what do I do fight or run. Yakushi needs to be brought in. Then again there's a reason why I don't do field duty anymore…run!"

Hayate took off running as fast as he could. Kabuto only smiled at the sight of the fleeing shinobi. Hayate ran as fast as he could until he found Kabuto standing in front of him.

"Wise move Mr. Proctor, but it will be your last. Orochimaru-sama wouldn't be pleased with me if someone blew the whistle so early on the invasion." Kabuto said with a smile.

"This isn't good, looks I'll have to fight." Hayate thought as he drew out his sword.

"Oh so it looks like you want to fight, alright then Mr. Proctor." Kabuto said as he drew out a kunai.

Hayate rushed forward with his blade ready. Kabuto threw his kunai and Hayate dodged the weapon. Suddenly multiple Hayate's came towards Kabuto, the glasses wearing nin was thrown off by the sudden appearance of the bunshins.

"Mikadzuki no Mai!!(Dance of the Crescent Moon)"

The real Hayate dropped down from above bringing his blade down on Kabuto. The special jounin's blade sliced through Kabuto's shoulder until his blade cut into his chest. Hayate pulled his blade back as the lifeless body of Kabuto fell to the ground.

"That was surprisingly fast, you'd think a spy for…" Hayate wasn't able to finish his thought.

The special jounin sensed a presence behind him. Hayate barely turned around in time to avoid a direct hit. A hand with glowing chakra struck Hayate in his right forearm. Hayate felt his arm go limp, the katana was about to fall out of Hayate's disabled arm. He quickly used his left hand to hold the blade.

"How did you…that wasn't even a bunshin!" Hayate said in shock.

"Oh that, it was just my little puppet to use, I forgot who that fellow nin used to be before I made him look like me…" Kabuto said as he pointed at the corpse behind Hayate.

"That was the…cough…"Shikon no Jutsu" (Dead Soul Technique) wasn't it?" Hayate asked.

"Yes that was, a surgically altered face to a reanimated body. And of course my "Chakra no Mesu" (Chakra Scalpel) isn't as sharp as your katana but it certainly does a good job of cutting nerves and muscle tissue."

Hayate growled in frustration. "This isn't good; I don't have much a choice but to continue fighting. And now my right arm has been disabled."

"Now then I have places to be and people to see, so if you don't mind Mr. Proctor, you're going to have to die now." Kabuto said menacingly.

"Funny…cough…I have to do the same thing…cough…small world, eh?" Hayate said.

The two nins charged at each other. Kabuto's hands glowed with chakra as he used his taijutsu skills to try and strike Hayate. The special jounin had to avoid Kabuto's hands at all costs. Kabuto didn't have to put a whole lot of effort into dodging the blade being swung at him; Hayate had a problem using his left arm.

Hayate swung his blade to the side, Kabuto ducked to dodge the weapon. Before Hayate could kick Kabuto while he was down, Kabuto smacked Hayate's ankle with his Chakra Mesu. Hayate lost balance for a moment, which gave Kabuto an opening. The glasses wearing nin sent an open palm to the left side of Hayate's chest.

"Cough…cough!!" Hayate struggled to breathe; his left lung was now cut by the Chakra Mesu.

Before Kabuto could get another chance at striking Hayate, the special jounin thrust his blade forward while still in close proximity. The blade penetrated Kabuto's chest, piercing his heart. Hayate smiled as the blood gushed out and Kabuto dropped to his knees.

"I'm not dieing yet…cough…" Hayate said while struggling to regain his breath.

"Are you sure about that?"

Hayate had paled as Kabuto still on his knees looked up at the special jounin. Kabuto pulled the blade out of his chest as more blood poured out. Then suddenly the bleeding stopped and the flesh started to close up. Before Hayate could do anything, Kabuto charged chakra to his hands once more and directly smashed his Chakra Mesu into Hayate's heart.

"Bllluhhh!!" Hayate coughed out a torrent of blood as his heart was almost literally destroyed.

Kabuto smiled. "The "Inyu Shometsu" (Secret Healing Injury Destruction), allow me to heal from injuries at a rapid pace the moment I receive it. You'll be dead in a few minutes Mr. Proctor; it's been good knowing you." Kabuto said as he left Hayate to die.

"Dammit…I'm not gonna last much longer…fuck…Naruto-kun…it's a shame I can't teach you everything else I knew…you were my only student…and my best student…Yuugao-chan I'm so sorry…it looks like you won't get that ring…I love you my Moonflower…" Hayate barely said the last of his thoughts out loud as he closed his eyes after gazing at the full moon, Hayate was now dead.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was making his way to hospital early morning. The blonde nin had a bouquet of flowers to give to Hinata. He wouldn't be surprised if Hinata was still resting, so Naruto decided he would leave the flowers by her bedside. And then he would go and meet Gai for his training.

While jumping rooftop to rooftop, at the corner of Naruto's eye he saw something. Naruto turned his head to see a group of ANBU circled around something. To far away to see what it was exactly Naruto made his way over.

"Hey what's going on here?" Naruto asked as he approached slowly.

The ANBU turned around to see Naruto approaching. One of the female ANBU seemed vaguely familiar to Naruto as he got closer. Naruto could also see that it was a dead body that the ANBU surrounded. From where Naruto was, the blonde could tell it was a Konoha-nin.

"Naruto-kun?" The female kunoichi asked asked.

By looking at the color of her hair and recognizing her voice, Naruto remembered who it was.

"Yuugao-chan, what's going on here? Who is that?" Naruto got closer; he could see that Yuugao had in her hands a familiar katana.

"Naruto-kun wait don't come any closer..." It was too late; Naruto saw the face of the dead Konoha-nin.

"Hayate-sensei…" Naruto said as he dropped to his knees a single tear fell from his eyes.

AN: _There you guys go my last chapter for a long while. Like I said earlier, sorry guys, at least I got to the point I wanted my story to reach before I left. So yeah, hopefully those 13 weeks well go by just like that, so I can put out another chapter. Goodbye for now everyone. _


	17. I wasn't expecting him to be like this

AN: _Hello and Semper Fi! Guess who decided to show his update that took a long ass time to make? Me!! I know it's been a long while since I posted anything for SA but here it is. It's not much right now, its plot stuff I had to get out of the way before moving further on. Anyway I'm sorry about the phenomenal delay for this chapter. One thing led to another and if I hadn't at least gotten one chapter out it would have been almost year since I last updated._

_Anyway as I said one thing led another. Boot leave didn't give me enough time work on a chapter and Recruiters Assistance in December was hectic as hell. And even though I had a laptop with me in Fort Sill, I somehow lost my file and had to start from scratch. And also I was hooked on playing Resident Evil 5 and Left 4 Dead. Speaking of which I will be breaking into RE fanfiction soon, but enough about that on to the story right?_

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'Talk': Thought

"_Talk": _Minato, Toads

Chapter 16: I wasn't expecting him to be like this.

It had been nearly a week since Hayate's funereal. Naruto and other Konoha Shinobi had attended the service for the late swordsman. Among them were close friends of Hayate and the Hokage himself was there as well. Even Zabuza himself attended, he seemed to have some admiration for the man when he found out Hayate set into motion what would lead to Naruto developing the fighting style he had.

It wasn't the first time Naruto had lost someone close to him. It was however the first time he was there to attend the funeral. One of the things that really stuck to Naruto's mind was seeing Hayate's face and the blood that dried around his mouth. At times it haunted Naruto. It would have been hard for the genin to attend the funeral had his father and Hinata not given their support. Even though it was too soon for Hinata to be discharged from the hospital, with more confidence instilled in her, Hinata insisted she would be there for Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXX

The funeral was a week ago. Now Naruto was hard at work with his training. Even though his thoughts were in a jumble he still kept in mind of what was ahead of him. And knowing Hayate, Naruto knew the late swordsman wouldn't want the blonde to be distracted from his tasks with mourning. There was something in particular that still stuck to Naruto's thoughts among other things.

"_Son, you okay? Anything you wanna talk about?" _Minato asked out of concern.

"Nope, nothing at all dad…" Naruto said in his mind as he launched a flurry of kicks and punches.

XXXXXXXXXX

Maito Gai was watching Naruto practice. The Legendary Green Beast of Konoha had Naruto on a modified training regimen. Since there was only so much time and Naruto needed to learn more than just the basics of Gouken. Naruto had to learn things a little differently than Lee.

'Naruto-kun is making good progress but I wonder if it will be enough for him…what am I saying? Look at the youthful genin. He's already gotten used to the leg and arm weights. There not exactly as heavy as Lee's weights or anywhere close to mine. But it's good progress.'

XXXXXXXXXX

Aside from the death of a close one still deep in his thoughts, there was also the concern for what was to come. At the moment Naruto was of a certain few to know about the impending attack on Konoha that would occur during the finals. It was thanks to rescuing Kin from her kidnappers that the former Oto-nin was so willing to give the information. The only problem was that they only knew of the attack and when it would occur. But that was all, they didn't know of the extent of how the attack would be carried out or if Oto had anyone else involved in it.

The other concern for Naruto was if the attack was a full scale engagement with Konoha that meant there would be collateral damage. A lot of unnecessary casualties, and many would probably be needed to assist in fighting back if any swift action isn't taken. Naruto was afraid that Hinata would be involved in the fight and the blonde knew it would still be quite some time before Hinata would be back to full strength. Naruto also thought about the others as well.

"_Come on son I know something is bothering you. Is it Hayate-san's passing?"_

"…" Naruto didn't really respond.

"_It is isn't it?" _Minato asked.

"It's not just that dad, there's a lot on my mind. But I tell you what…" Naruto went back to the main thing on his mind.

"…Dad, whoever the hell killed Hayate-sensei…I'm gonna kill that bastard!" Naruto yelled out as he landed a devastating kick on a large boulder.

BOOOM!

A loud defining boom was heard as Naruto's foot collided with the rock. Cracks could be seen spreading across the boulder.

SNAP!

Another loud noise was heard and suddenly Naruto fell on his back holding his foot. The combined stress of added weights to his ankle and the sudden impact with the rather dense rock fractured Naruto's bone.

"Yeeoooww!!"

"_**Idiot…"**_

XXXXXXXXXX

Gai stared at the blonde with a sweat drop down the side of his head. 'Ah Naruto-kun, you still have much more progress to make.' Gai thought

Gai took a quick glance over across the way to the hot springs. Much to the green beasts surprise He saw the figure of a man with white hair peeping through a hole in the wall that was meant to keep the women's bath hidden from prying eyes. Judging by the way the man's body shook, it was obvious the man was giving off perverted giggles.

Gai coming down with the realization of what this male was doing filled the youthful jounin with fury, apparently. Flames ignited behind Gai, it was somewhat hard to tell if it was real flames or not.

"How dare that unyouthful fiend lay his lecherous eyes on the women of Konoha!! As the Green Beast of Konoha, I will strike you down!!!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto heard Gai's proclamation of striking someone down and momentarily forgot about the pain in his foot to see what the Green Beast was going on about.

'I wonder what's got Gai-sensei going off.' Naruto thought.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Prepared to be destroyed fiend!!" Gai screamed out as he charged forward in beyond neck-breaking speeds.

"Dynamic Entry!!" Gai yelled out as he threw a kunai near the head of the man spying on the women's bath house.

THUMP!

The man heard and saw the kunai lodge itself near his head. Not sure what just happened, the man turned around to see a green blur flying towards him accompanied with some kind of scream.

"HYYYYYAAAAHHHH!!"

BAM!!!

The sole of Gai's blue sandal smashed right into the man's face. Gai had a victorious grin on his face.

"Ha! Take that you foul…" Gai's grin suddenly became a dreadful frown as he realized he put a little too much power to that kick. As the back of the man's head collided with the wooden wall behind him, a few other loud noises followed the little over exaggerated entry.

CRACK!!

SMASH!!

Gai and the peeping tom flew right through the wooden wall, with Gai's foot still driven into the perverts face. A large splash was made as Gai and the pervert landed into the spring waters. The loud screams of women erupted from the establishment followed by the sound of loud slaps and punches.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Kuso! That was a pain in the ass having to get you two out of there!" Naruto yelled out as he dragged a nearly unconscious Gai and the pervert behind him.

Gai did a rather exaggerated kip up and cracked a few bones. "I apologize for that Naruto-kun but I had to do something to stop that vile fiend." Gai said while pointing an accusing finger at the nearly unconscious peeping tom.

"Well who the hell is he?!" Naruto asked a little frustrated with the Green Beast's antics.

"_Well I can answer that ques…"_

Before Minato could finish what he was going to say, Gai grabbed the pervert by the collar. He was about to question the man until suddenly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! How dare you strike me! The Legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin in the face!" The man now identified as Jiraiya screamed out.

"Oh I apologize for that Jiraiya-sensei! I could not recognize you for a moment." Gai said apologetically.

"Of course you couldn't recognize me! You left a giant ass shoe print on my face!!"

"Well you can't blame me for this; after all I had to stop your unyouthful activities in the name of justice." Gai said.

"You're still going on about that! When will you learn?! You're a poor deluded fool. Nothing shows youth better than gazing upon the beauty of those women!" Jiraiya said almost sounding like a madman.

"Um, dad?"

"_Son that perverted old man over there is my sensei and a student of Sarutobi-san. That is Jiraiya the Toad Sage of the Sannin."_

"You're kidding me?! You trained my father?!" Naruto yelled out as he pointed at Jiraiya.

"What the hell are you yelling about gaki? I trained your father? Please, I haven't trained a whole lot of people in my life and whoever your father was probably wasn't one of mine…"

"_You can drop the act Jiraiya." _Minato said through his son.

"Wh-what?!!" Both Jiraiya and Gai yelled out.

XXXXXXXXXX

It took a while for Jiraiya to process what he was told. Minato, speaking through Naruto told Jiraiya everything that had happened. Jiraiya was one who always believed that his student was always full of surprises. And of course Minato nearly and unintentionally cheating death by living through his son was no acceptation.

"Truly amazing, I always knew that Naruto-kun was the son of the great former Hokage. But to have his father's sprit living inside of him as well. Truly amazing, youth has never burned so bright!!" Gai yelled out.

"_Think you can tone it down a little Gai?" _Minato said, while Gai was dancing around.

"So anyway…" Jiraiya said trying to ignore Gai's outburst.

"Minato what's your son doing training with the "spandex avenger" over here?" Jiraiya said while pointing to an over eccentric Gai.

"_Naruto is training for his match in the finals for the Chunnin Exam. My son is going up against a Hyuuga with a severe superiority complex. Naruto plans on beating his Jyuuken with Gouken."_

"That's a bit much to go through to show up a Hyuuga don't cha think? Besides just beating him would be enough, right?" Jiraiya said curious to why Naruto wanted to go through this kind of effort to beat Neji.

"_Well, see the other thing is his opponent almost killed my son's "now" girlfriend."_

"Oh hoh! So your son's already hitting it off with a girl huh? Well I got just the right thing that your son will ne…"

BAM!!  
Jiraiya couldn't finish his sentence or even stand at the moment because he was just punched in the stomach that had a heavy weight behind it.

"_Sorry but you are not going to corrupt my son, Sensei." _

"Well…fine…ow…even through your son…you still hit pretty damn hard…ow…"

"_**Not like that old pervert will succeed before I do." **_Kyuubi said in the back of Naruto's mind.

"_Die trying, Die trying, asshole fox." _Minato mumbled.

"_I don't want my son to learn that from you, but I do have something else in mind. A few things actually…"_

"If I know you, one of those things is having your son sign the Toad summoning contract."

"_Well yeah pretty much."_

"Well too bad Minato, just cause he's your son I'm not gonna give special treatment and just let him sign the contract. He's gonna have to prove to me that he's got what it takes to earn the Toads respect." Jiriaya said sternly.

Suddenly Naruto took control of his own body. The blond-nin dropped into a partial Gouken stance.

"If that's what you want pervy-sage then I'll just have to beat you!" Naruto said in a half serious and half confident tone.

Jiraiya was thrown off at the moment by the sudden reappearance of Naruto, but then regained composure. "Don't get cocky with me gaki, I trained you're father and was trained by Sarutobi. Plus I've got plenty of fighting experience and my own techniques to take you down."

Naruto suddenly grinned. "Well I have something that can take you down for the count…" Naruto said.

"Oh really gaki?" Jiraiya cocked a curious eyebrow.

"_Oh jeez, don't tell me you're going to use that are you?" _Minato asked regrettably.

"I do Ero-sennnin, trust me." Jiraiya had a vein bulge out from the nickname given to him.

"Okay try me then gaki!" Jiraiya yelled out ready to make Naruto take back the name.

"Fine! Oiroke no Jutsu!!"

POOF!!

In a few moments Jiraiya fell on his back landing on the ground with a massive nose bleed. Gai himself just closed his eyes and shouted something about not violating purity. Minato just slapped his hand to his own face in embarrassment for both parties and Kyuubi just started to laugh his ass off.

"Ha! That's right Ero-sennin! How do you like that?!" Naruto yelled out as he was about to change back when suddenly.

"Of course I like it!! I Love it!! Marry m…" Naruto had quickly transformed back and kicked Jiraiya in the face.

BAM!!

"Back off Ero-sennin, that was just a damn illusion. Jeez, never thought I'd get that kind of reaction."

"Well that does it; I will let you sign the contract." Jiraiya said after recovering from the kick.

"You will?" Naruto asked excitedly, believing he really did beat Jiraiya.

"Sure thing if you promise to use that jutsu again!!" Jiraiya yelled out.

"_Ero-baka!!!"_ Minato screamed out as he took over again and sent out a powerful uppercut into Jiraiya's chin.

XXXXXXXXXX

After the training was done for the day, Jiraiya had finally agreed that Naruto would sign the Toad contract. It took some arguing and Jiraiya begging for Naruto to us the Oiroke again. In the end Jiraiya just gave up not wanting to constantly be punched and kicked by Naruto/Minato. It was decided that Naruto would meet up with Jiraiya the following day after.

Naruto was now going to visit Hinata in the hospital. For the last few days Naruto found that no matter how strenuous or frustrating the training day got, when he went to see Hinata everything seemed better.

Naruto arrived at the Konoha hospital, rather than wasting time at the receptionist's desk he just scaled the walls and was about to climb in through the window. But the sound of a conversation was heard. Naruto didn't immediately jump in and decided to listen in.

"You've disappointed me once again and you have disgraced the Main House." The voice of an older male said with distaste and disappointment.

"How could you lose to someone of the Branch House? It shouldn't be such a surprise however. It seems pointless to me to continue to have some sort of hope that you would actually carry the pride of the family."

"B-but father I…" A feminine voice was heard; Naruto immediately recognized that it was Hinata.

"I will not here it! I will not here any excuses. Why I haven't sent you into the Branch house yet, I don't know. But rest assured it will happen, if this keeps up." Hinata's father said in a threatening manner.

Remembering what Naruto had been told about what Branch House members were given to put them into servitude. Naruto's blood boiled and in the blink of an eye, the blonde leaped through the window and was already in the room beside Hinata.

"Nobody's putting a goddamn seal on my Tenshi-chan!" Naruto almost literally snarled and growled at the man standing before Hinata.

"N-naruto-kun?" Hinata said surprised.

"Y-your Angel?! What the hell is the meaning of this?! Who the hell are you?!" Hinata's father questioned angrily.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and like I said earlier you're not putting a damn seal on Tenshi-chan!" Naruto yelled out with anger and conviction.

"Please Naruto-kun don't do this, he's m-my f…" Hinata tried to stop her love.

"I know he's your father Tenshi-chan…" Naruto's tone died down a little as he turned and spoke to Hinata, his gaze however turned back to the elder Hyuuga. "No self-respecting father would talk this way to his own daughter like that!"

"And what is she to you then? She is worthless…"

"What is she to me huh? She's the woman I love!" Naruto yelled out.

"Y-you love her?!" Hiashi stared shocked, surprised and angered; he then turned his attention towards Hinata.

"And you reciprocate these feelings?!" Hiashi yelled out.

"I…" Hinata stopped for a moment; she felt the intimidation from her father. But then Hinata looked at Naruto.

'Father is upset with me and I know this is only going to make things worse…but I love Naruto-kun and he loves me. He was going to have to find out eventually…I'm with Naruto-kun now and I don't want anything drive us apart.' Hinata said to herself.

"I do father, I love Naruto-kun with all my heart." Hinata said without stuttering a moment.

Hiashi only stared in anger. "How could you possibly fall in love with him? He is a poor excuse of a ninja!" Hiashi looked at Naruto who was frowning underneath his mask.

"And you, how can you fall for a disgrace such as her. And what makes you think that I would allow you to even touch the Hyuuga blood."

Naruto growled underneath his mask. He wasn't taking insults and lashes at Hinata very lightly. Minato and Kyuubi of course were also listening in on the conversation and had their own says.

"_**If I were the Kit I'd probably kill the bastard where he stands."**_

"_Man I didn't think Hiashi would become an even bigger asshole over the years. Jeez, he's even worse than Fugaku now." _Minato said.

"Nothing you say, nothing…will change the way things are now. Leave or I'll make you leave." Naruto said in a calm sort of anger filled tone.

Hiashi clenched his teeth, "You dare threaten me, even after knowing who I am?!"

"You're damn right." Naruto responded with a dead serious tone.

Hiashi stared at Naruto for another moment; he could tell right then and there that the masked blonde was serious and determined. It was apparent if needed Naruto wasn't going to fight Hiashi. The Hyuuga head had nothing to be afraid of as far as he knew, however he wasn't willing to instigate a foolish fight. After all how would it look to the public's image of the Hyuuga's if their current clan head got into a fight with a genin in a hospital?

"Che, Don't consider this a victory, obviously you're a bigger fool than I thought. I'm not going to waste my time beating you down. I'm leaving before I embarrass the Main House." Hiashi said as he turned around. "Hinata, know that I do not approve of this and that this so called relationship will end." Hiashi said.

As the clan leader made his way out of the room, he opened the door and to his own mild surprise and annoyance found Rin, Haku, and Shino all listening in.

"I'm not going to ask, just get out of my way." Hiashi said with annoyance and stomped out.

Naruto and Hinata were both somewhat unnerved from the little conflict; both were unnerved enough that they didn't pay attention to the fact that three other people were listening in. Naruto went over to Hinata and looked at her, he then hugged Hinata.

"I-I'm sorry about that, I know I went overboard with your father but…"

"N-no Naruto-kun, I know why you did it. You didn't d-do anything wrong." Hinata interrupted Naruto and just hugged him back and followed with a kiss to the cheek.

"Aww." Rin and Shino both said at the same time, Shino suddenly realized he said it out loud instead of keeping it as a thought; Rin stared at the young Aburame nin questionably.

"Nobody knows about this, tells anybody and you will never want to see an insect ever again." Although it was rather out of line for a genin threaten a jounin, it's not like it ever stopped it from happening. Rin decided that she wouldn't tell anyone.

Haku herself was glad to see that Naruto came in time to end the shame trip Hiashi was putting Hinata in. At the same time it also saddened the kunoichi mainly because it reinforced the fact that Naruto was with Hinata now.

'I'm happy for Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan but I guess this means I've lost my chance…I don't know if I'll ever meet someone like Naruto-kun.' Haku thought.

XXXXXXXXXX

Deciding that it was better to leave Hinata and Naruto alone together, Rin decided to take everyone out of the room. Now that the others were gone Naruto went to spending quality time with Hinata.

"So when are you going to be discharged Tenshi-chan?" Naruto asked while cutting the skin off an apple.

"It's still a little soon but I should be able to attend the finals." Hinata said.

"That's good to hear, now say awww…" Naruto said as he held a piece of apple in front of Hinata.

Hinata of course blushed at the little act. "N-naruto-kun…I can feed m-myself…"

"I know Tenshi-chan but what kind of boyfriend would I be I didn't feed you when you're in the hospital?" Naruto asked innocently.

"W-well to be honest N-naruto-kun, I kind of wanted to do that for you when you were in the hospital." Hinata said with some stuttering.

Naruto blushed a little under his mask, thinking back to it. His stay at the hospital would have been much more pleasant had that happened back then.

"Tell you what, next time I'm in the hospital you can do just that." Naruto eye-smiled, Hinata blushed and smiled. And after a moment she took the apple.

XXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile outside Hinata's hospital room, Shino and Rin were both watching in secret, being careful not to be noticed. Rin had to fight a school girl squeal; she absolutely loved the whole scene. Deep down she knew Naruto could be quit the charmer. Shino being a sort of romantic himself also liked the displays of affection that the couple had for one another.

"Ano, Shino-san why are you still here?" Rin asked curiously.

"Ahem…" Shino took a moment to adjust his shades. "As I said before tell anybody and you will regret seeing an insect ever again."

Rin had a sweat drop down the side of her head and made a nervous chuckle. 'Shino-san really doesn't want anyone to know about this, even though he knows I'm a jounin.'

"Okay I won't tell, I promise." Rin said assuring the Aburame.

"Well…the thing is, I am what you might call a "romantic." If I see that two people should be together for one good reason or another. Why should they be hindered from being together?" Shino said.

"It makes sense; I have those same thoughts as well." Rin said while nodding her head in matter of fact manner.

"That's why I like seeing Naruto-san and Hinata-san together…it…" Shino actually attempted withdraw his head into his jackets tall collar, like a turtle would hide in its shell. "…gives me a warm feeling…"

Rin could barely hear what Shino said but she understood what Shino meant. The medic-nin had a smile on her face.

"Oh Shino-kun, with such a cold and quiet demeanor you sure have a warm heart in you. I'm surprised you don't already have girlfriend with the kind of person you are." Rin said in a somewhat adoring manner.

"Well funny thing about that is I'm more for watching other couples romantic interactions as oppose to going into a relationship myself. Also it's kind of hard to find a woman who doesn't mind the fact I'm quite literally a living bug colony."

A thought suddenly popped into Rin's mind. 'Hmm, well I helped Naruto and Hinata get together; let's see if I can't help a fellow romanticist find his one and only.' Rin suddenly had a grin on her face; this of course actually started to make the stoic Aburame nervous.

"Well then that won't do Shino-kun; let's see if we can't help you find the girl of your dreams." Rin said as she grabbed Shino's wrist and started to head out the hospital, telling the staff she was getting off early.

"Hwa wh-what?!! Rin-san I don't think this is a good idea…" Shino said being dragged along.

"Nonsense, your path to love begins today!" Rin cheered on.

"R-rin-san you're hurting my wrist and you're scaring the bugs inside of me…"

XXXXXXXXXX

"So how did training go today Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Well I met Jiraiya of the Sannin today…" Naruto said hesitantly.

"R-really, you did? He's one of Konoha's best shinobi." Hinata said surprised.

"Well yeah, I don't know if meeting him was a good or bad thing…"

"Why, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

"Well that old bastard is an open pervert and he's the author of those orange books Kakashi-sensei loves to read so much and which Rin-chan resents its existence. I didn't think it was the same Jiraiya…" Naruto said regrettably.

"So what happened when you met Jiraiya-sama, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked innocently.

"One thing led to another and now he's going to get involved in my training." Naruto said.

"R-really Naruto-kun, that's great!" Hinata said excitedly, surprising Naruto.

"B-but why did he decide to get involved in your training?" Hinata asked.

"Well it's because I beat the great Sannin in a little match." Naruto grinned proudly underneath his mask.

"R-really you beat a Sannin, that's incredible. H-how did you do it?" Hinata asked again, she obviously wanted to know how her Naruto-kun bested a Sannin.

Naruto smiled under his mask. "I used the Oiroke no Jutsu, I said he was a pervert after all."

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said his name now feeling a little embarrassed.

"In all honesty even though the Ero-sennin denies it, I have a feeling he got involved in my training because of my father." Naruto said.

"_Son, you're going to tell her now?" _Minato asked.

"I was uncomfortable about it at first, but she knows just about everything besides you. And besides I love her, someday…I want her to be my…" Naruto blushed under his mask.

"…Wife…" Naruto said and Minato smiled warmly at his son.

"Y-your father, I don't know who your father is. Naruto-kun who is he?" Hinata asked.

Naruto gave an eye-smile. "Wouldn't you like to know Tenshi-chan?" Naruto said playfully as he pulled down his mask and kissed Hinata on her lips. Although surprised Hinata deepened the kiss and after a moment Naruto pulled back.

"At first I was a little uncomfortable to tell you right away Tenshi-chan. But here it is, can you think of another shinobi in Konoha who has spiky blonde hair and blue eyes?" Hinata took a quick moment to think about the question and was reminded of her early suspicions.

"Wait Naruto-kun are you saying that the Yonda…" Naruto quickly kissed Hinata on the lips and smiled.

"A kiss for our lovely winner…" Hinata blushed.

"A part of me had a feeling that you had your suspicions." Naruto said.

XXXXXXXXX

"_**Yeah no shit right Kit, your father taking over during that little beat down for Sasuke-chan wasn't an obvious giveaway right?" **_Kyuubi said sarcastically.

"Don't kill the moment for me asshole fox."

"_Don't worry son I'll take care of that problem."_ Minato said as he stepped in and in a quick motion Minato immediately brought up his left whole leg and performed an axe kick that dropped on Kyuubi's shoulder and collar bone.

"_**Oww you bastard my collar bone!!" **_Kyuubi yelled out in pain.

XXXXXXXXXX

"My father is Namikaze Minato, the Kiiroi Senko and Yondaime Hokage." Naruto said proudly.

"Oh my…Naruto-kun that's…" Naruto stopped Hinata from finishing her sentence.

"There's one other thing Tenshi-chan, do you want to meet my father?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"W-what do you mean Naruto-kun, I-I thought your father died sealing the Kyuubi?" Hinata asked confused and shocked.

"My father did but something else happened, I'll let my dad explain." Naruto said as his father took over at the same time a steady amount of red chakra flowed out.

Hinata stared in disbelief and at the same time she remembered Naruto doing a transformation like this before. A warm yellow aura surrounded Naruto that took the shape and form of the Yondaime. Naruto had a warm smile on his face, not one that a lover had for his love but a fatherly smile.

"_Hello Hinata-chan, I know this is a little awkward for you since I'm speaking through your boyfriend. But I am Naruto-kun's father."_

AN: _And there you go I know it's not much to make up for my prolonged absence but it's something right? Anyway the next hopefully won't take as long. Once again sorry for the long wait. _


	18. Twist and Turns

**AN: **_Hi everyone! Good Morning, Afternoon, or Night, Ladies and Gentlemen. No idea what time of the day you are reading this. Here's another chapter, took me a while. I've been busy having to look for work and getting ready for Junior College. Anyway read and enjoy everyone._

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'talk': Thought

"_Talk": _Minato, Toads

Chapter 17: Twists and Turns

"Ho-hokage-sama?" Hinata said nervously, one moment her boyfriend was standing in front of her and the next his father was practically there.

"_Oh please Hinata-chan, you don't need to call me that. I stopped being the Hokage a long time ago. Just call me Minato. Or if you prefer, since Naruto and yourself love each other enough, you could call me dad." _Minato said in a manner that was hard to tell if he was joking or serious.

Both Hinata and Naruto had an embarrass reaction to the statement, at the same time thoughts of marriage did pop into both Hinata and Naruto's mind. It was still too soon for the young adolescents to actually get married or should even be thinking about it. But it was of course a happy thought.

"M-minato-sama, you must really be Naruto-kun's father to be t-that blunt." Hinata said hesitantly.

"_Heh heh, well he had to have gotten it from somewhere right?" _Minato said jokingly and then after a moment two and two added together. _"Heeeyy!! That was a stab at meee!! I'm that not blunt am I?" _Minato asked in an over exaggerated manner with wide eyes and crocodile tears.

"Bwahahaha!!"

"_**Hahahaha!!"**_

In a rare and fleeting moment Naruto and Kyuubi actually shared a laugh together. Hinata wasn't too sure herself if it was okay to find it funny. But nevertheless Hinata had a small giggle. Being blunt wasn't the only thing Naruto got from his dad but also his rather comical antics as well.

XXXXXXXXXX

As time passed Minato told Hinata about what had happened that night on Oct. 10th, with Minato's battle against Kyuubi, sealing the fox demon, as well as his deal with the Shinnigami. For Hinata it was like hearing a tragic story of self sacrifice that had a sign of hope as the story continued on.

"_Anyway, enough about me Hinata-chan, more so about you, I have to thank you for all that you have done for my son. It goes to show just how much you love him. I have no objections let alone any reasons to question your feelings for Naruto. You're still young of course, but your feelings will only grow. And even when other women entered Naruto's life, some of which had obvious feelings for my son. You still didn't give up…"_

Hinata actually felt a sense of pride knowing that Naruto's father approved of her. Not only that, he was commending her as well.

"…_And even with your father Hiashi-san finding out, you still held firm. And believe me even though your father acts like one hell of an asshole; believe me that's just how he is. I should know I went to the academy with him. Seriously I mean the guy was an asshole to everyone just like Fugaku! Only difference between those two was that one of them fell in love a lot sooner than the other one and became less of an asshole. Guess which one it was?"_

"My father?" Hinata asked. Minato smiled through Naruto and then patted Hinata's head with the aura extension of his left arm.

"_Yup, your father loved your mother very much. Losing her probably shattered him. It seems apparent that your father wanted to distance himself from those who matter the most to him in order to keep from getting hurt and together with losing his brother it didn't help the situation."_

It seemed that Hinata and Naruto now had a better understanding of why Hiashi acted the way he was. Naruto thought about it for a while and came back to that dreadful thought of losing Hinata; Naruto himself knew that the outcome was something that would not be very subtle. Hinata also thought about what would happen had she lost Naruto, it was something that would shatter her world, she would have rather died herself than let Naruto be taken from the world.

"_In all honesty I think Hiashi is being a stubborn ass and is just hurting those close to him, especially his own daughter. I think Hiashi is going to need have a talk with an old friend." _Minato said as he surprised both Naruto and Hinata.

"Dad, are you sure about doing this?" Naruto asked his father.

"_Of course son, despite being an asshole Hiashi is still my friend. Someone needs to smack him in the face with some "sense" and "reality." He's had it coming and I think it's appropriate I do it."_

"Are you sure about this Yondaime-sama?" Hinata asked.

Minato frowned through his son. _"What did I say about calling me that? Anyway I'm positive this will change his attitude somewhat at least, and if it fails. I know you and my son won't let that stop the both of you." _Minato smiled at Hinata.

"Thank you Minato-sama." Hinata said with happy smile.

"_Stay positive sweetheart; don't let anything keep you and my son apart. Anyways…I'm about to hit my sons limit…bye…"_ Naruto then collapsed, his face burying in Hinata's lap.

"N-naruto-kun! Are you alright!" Hinata yelled out, she was about to call for help until Naruto just barely brought up his arm to stop her.

"Doonn't worry…Ten…shi-chan…I'm just…tired…" Naruto said slowly.

Before Hinata knew it, Naruto was sound asleep. The whole upper half of his body was on Hinata's hospital bed with his head mainly on Hinata's lap. Hinata's worried expression turned to a sigh of relief and then to a warm smile.

"My Naruto-kun, you always have one surprise after another." Hinata said as she gently stroked Naruto's hair. Although the blonde nin was sound asleep, his response to Hinata's actions was quick. Naruto smiled in his sleep and nuzzled closer to Hinata.

The young Hyuuga could only giggle at the little action. "I love you with all my heart Naruto-kun. I always have and always will. Sweet dreams my Naruto-kun." Hinata said as she gently kissed Naruto on the cheek.

Naruto started to stir in his sleep. "My…Tenshi…chan…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto felt the light of the shinning morning sun strike his closed eyes. The blonde groaned in his sleep as he tried to stay asleep. Not fully realizing it Naruto was lying on his side with another person's back against his chest. It was rather apparent that somehow through his own sleep Naruto had managed to get his whole body into the hospital bed with Hinata and now they had both slept in the same bed together through the night.

"Emm…It's too early…I wanna keep sleeping…" Naruto mumbled as he unintentionally tightened his hold around Hinata pulling her closer to him.

"Okay…Naruto-kun…" Hinata responded groggily as she scooted herself back getting closer to Naruto.

Both of them had a content smile on their faces as they continued to sleep. Then suddenly it hit both Naruto and Hinata like Major League's pitchers throw. They're eyes popped open instantly and both blushed profusely.

"Holy shit!!" Naruto yelled out as he jumped up in the bed.

XXXXXXXXXX

Inside Naruto's mind, Minato and Kyuubi heard Naruto's yell. Minato who had just woken up himself, and was walking into view with a night cap on his head like the one his son had and he had a coffee mug in his hand that read "#1 Hokage."

"_Jeez what the hell is all that noise Naruto's making this early in the morning?" _Minato said in an agitated tone.

The Yondaime then saw what his son was yelling about. Minato practically choked on his coffee at what he saw and the assumptions he made. Kyuubi who just woke up came in yawning. Before Kyuubi could ask what was going on Minato spat his coffee in Kyuubi's face.

"_Holy shit son! You didn't do what I think you did, did you?!" _Minato yelled out.

Normally this is where Kyuubi would make some kind of perverted joke or gesture. However at the moment Kyuubi was very pissed to have hot coffee spat on his face after waking up. Minato of course noticed Kyuubi and the coffee in his face after getting over the initial shock of the position his son woke up in.

"_Oh morning furball." _Minato said oblivious to the pissed off Kyuubi.

"_**Yeah morning, mind if I borrow that?" **_Kyuubi asked with a mad tone as he snatched Minato's coffee mug. Before Minato could say anything Kyuubi drew his arm back.

SMASH!!

"_Ouch! What the hell?!" _Mianto yelled out in pain as his own coffee mug was smashed into his own face and hot coffee sprayed all over.

"_**That's what you get for spitting coffee in my face asshole!" **_

"_Understandably you're mad…but…"_ Minato quickly punched Kyuubi in the groan area.

"_**Oww…you…bastard…" **_Kyuubi barely said in a wheezing tone barely able to stand.

"_You didn't need to throw my mug in my face!!"_

"_**Fuck you…oww…"**_ Kyuubi wheezed out as he gave Minato the finger and then fell on his side still holding his private area in pain.

XXXXXXXXXX

"We…umm…" Naruto wasn't sure what to say as he sat on the bed blushing beet red.

"Y-you were asleep for a w-while Naruto-kun. I-I didn't want to wake a-and then I fell asleep too…" Hinata said trying not to stutter but was sounding embarrassed.

"Well…okay…I guess nothing bad came out of it…" Naruto said blushing.

"I did like sleeping like that…" Naruto tried to say quietly.

Hinata could only blush and look away. "Y-you liked that?"

Naruto only looked confused at the question. "Well yeah…why wouldn't I? I like kissing you and hugging you. Why wouldn't I like falling asleep with you in my arms?" Naruto said with a grin on his face trying to make Hinata feel less embarrassed. It was apparent that Naruto's blunt side was making a comeback.

"_There goes my son, being his usual self. I guess that's why he's such the unintentional charmer." _Minato sighed as he picked the pieces of his favorite coffee mug out his hair, normally Kyuubi would have his own input in the matter, and however he was still on the ground keeled over clutching his fractured family jewels.

"Naruto-kun you mean that?" Hinata asked.

"Of course why wouldn't I?" Naruto answered with a question and a kiss to the cheek.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said bashfully as she hugged Naruto and gave him a kiss. "I love you."

Before Naruto could say anything to Hinata while still holding her, someone came into the hospital room. "Naruto-kun!!"

"Oh shi…whoa!!" Naruto yelled as the surprise visitor startled him and had him falling off the bed landing on his back.

Naruto already knew who it was that had come in. "Rin-chan! It's not what you think! We didn't…" Naruto's panic subsided quickly as he noticed that Rin was giggling at him.

"Gotcha!" Rin said teasingly as she winked and stuck out her tongue like a kid.

"Ehhhh!" Naruto had a mortified look on his face still lying on the ground with his legs propped against the side the hospital bed.

"Sorry Naruto-kun it was too good of an opportunity to have a little bit of fun." Rin said playfully.

"You were just messing around with me?!" Naruto said exasperated.

"Of course, I already knew that you decided to "sleep over." When I came back to the hospital after running around town with Shino-kun I found you two both fast asleep. I would've woken you both up to find out what happened but you two looked so cute together like that, it also seemed obvious you two didn't want to be woken up." Rin said as she held out some photos.

"See you two are just adorable together like that."

Naruto had gotten back up on his feet and snatched the photos out of Rin's hand. Both Naruto and Hinata's eyes practically bulged out as they saw the pictures of them both sleeping together. Though it may have been an overreaction to say the least, at least they weren't caught doing "the thing a man and a woman do when really in love." As Kakashi probably would have put it, but nonetheless considering how Naruto's status was with Hiashi wasn't very good. Not that the blonde gave two shits about it, he didn't need these photos ending up in the clan heads hands and stirring up a hornets' nest with the Hyuuga clan altogether. Hinata also had similar thoughts.

"If you're wondering how I got these, Kurenai-chan had also come back with me to the hospital. Apparently she didn't want me dragging her genin around town like that."

"Knew it." Both Naruto and Hinata said together as a sweat drop came down, they could only visualize Kurenai taking the snapshots with her little mini-camera.

"Oh stop that you two. It's not like they're pictures of you two doing something more "intimate." I know you're not that kind of guy Naruto-kun." Rin said reassuringly.

"Of course I'm not Kakashi-sensei or that bastard Ero-Sennin." Naruto said.

"Ero-Sennin?" Rin asked.

"Oh right, I met my dad's sensei yesterday." Naruto said.

Rin suddenly punched her right fist into her left palm and had an angry grin on her face. "So Jiraiya-sensei is back huh? He didn't try to make you read those books did he?" Rin asked in a strangely angry and protective manner.

"Uh…no." Naruto said nervously.

"Okay good, like I'm going to let Jiraiya-sensei corrupt Minato and Kushina's son." Rin said sternly, Hinata giggled at Rin's words.

XXXXXXXXXX

After Rin left to bring breakfast for the couple and she of course insisted. Naruto had taken a shower in Hinata's hospital room bathroom. To say the least there was an awkward situation that had occurred that involved a curious eye, fainting, and being dressed in just a towel, it wasn't exactly all in that order but close enough. It was just one of those mishaps ridden mornings.

Naruto was heading out of Hinata's hospital room. He was going to head out for another day of training, before that however he was going to visit a few other people who were in the hospital. As he made his way down one of the halls, Naruto was near Tenten's hospital room. From what he had heard Tenten was up and tip top shape but the doctors had insisted that she stay a few more days.

Much to Naruto's surprise he saw a blushing Neji step out of the room while straightening out his jacket collar. The moment Neji turned in Naruto's direction he was surprised to see Naruto staring at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"What are you looking at dobe?" Neji asked trying to regain composure.

"I was under the impression you were a cold-hearted and uncaring bastard. Looks like even you have a soft spot." Naruto said in joking manner that was laced with mockery.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Neji said trying to sound unaffected.

"You know one thing that I don't point out often is that I have a rather sensitive nose. It's nowhere near as sensitive as the Inuzuka's noses but I do tend to pick up things. And from here I can smell a sort of perfume coming from you, very faint though. And unless you like to try out your cousin's makeup when she's not around, I think Ten-chan was getting ready and was rather anxious for your visit." Naruto said pointing out the obvious implications. There was a look in Neji's eyes that said he remembered his little visit, small blush went across his face.

"_**Ha!! That little bastard is banging that Chinese chick! Well that puts him a step above Sasu-chan on my scale. At least he knows what he likes and takes it. Hahahaha!!"**_

"_Can't believe I'm saying it but I agree that actually does put Neji-san on a higher scale than Sasuke-san." _Minato said.

"What does it matter to you if I maybe in a relationship with a woman?" Neji asked sounding uncaring.

"I don't know, didn't think your superiority complex allowed for you to like a woman." Naruto responded.

"Che, Tenten is a strong woman. It would only make sense for a person who has a strong will take an interest in a strong woman." Neji said in a matter of fact manner.

"Jeez I don't think Ten-chan is going to like you downsizing the value of your relationship. Kinda sends the wrong signal to your girl on the status or reasons behind the relationship huh?" Naruto said making Neji have seconds thoughts on how loud he had just his last few sentences.

"Anyway I've had enough chit-chat, I got to get some training done be ready to kick your ass and all." Naruto said as he walked past Neji hands in his pockets.

"Training under my sensei isn't going to help you." Neji snorted.

Naruto stopped walking; his back was to Neji's. "You so sure about that, people have looked down on me before. And when they least suspect it they find themselves knocked down on their asses."

"Always with the bold words, hmph, I guess that's one of the reasons why my weak cousin fell for you." Neji said, obviously taking another chance to stab at Hinata.

"She's as strong if not stronger than your Ten-chan, so you can take you those insults and shove it!" Naruto yelled the last part as he turned around.

Neji turned around at the same time. Both them had their right fists cocked back ready to strike. Neji's fist connected first. As the Hyuuga's fist came in, it seemed like Naruto disappeared. Suddenly a fist came in from Neji's left side and flew past his face and smashed into the wall next to him.

BOOM!

Neji stood still for a moment his fist still held up stuck in the air. Naruto was on his left side with a grin underneath his mask. Neji made a glance to the right to see Naruto's fist sunk into a noticeable hole in the wall.

"Like I said, people who underestimate me have a tendency to get knocked down on their asses. When that day comes, same thing will happen to you."

"HEY!! What the hell is going on down there?! This is a hospital what's wrong with you two?!" A member of the hospital staff yelled out as she saw the hole, Naruto had punched in the wall.

"Oh shit! Gotta go! Kick your ass later Neji!" Naruto said as he dashed away in blinding speed.

XXXXXXXXXX

"201…202…203…" Lee said as he struggled to continue doing his pushups despite his crippled limbs.

"Damn bushy brows I was under the impression that you shouldn't be doing anything strenuous." Naruto chuckled.

"Ah Naruto-kun!" Lee said excitedly as he jumped to his feet. It was obvious that Lee's condition was still rather critical as the bowl-cut nin winced in pain.

"Hey take it easy Lee, you still gotta recover. Last thing you need is to make your condition worse." Naruto said worried about Lee.

"It's not a problem Naruto-kun. I can't afford to fall out of shape while recovering." Lee said.

"There's a difference between exercising and self-mutilation." Naruto said bluntly. "Now get back to bed before I knock you the fuck out." Naruto ordered as Lee grabbed his crutches and sat on his hospital bed.

"So what brings you here Naruto-kun?" Lee asked.

"Just came to say thank you."

"Nani?" Lee asked quizzically.

"You got your sensei to train me in taijutsu, I really appreciate that. Especially since Neji is your teammate." Naruto said.

"Naruto-kun you are doing what I cannot do. You are going to defeat Neji who was my first rival. I may have lost my chance to prove that the hard-worker can beat the gifted genius, but you haven't. You have that same drive as me…" Lee paused for a moment, some tears started to well up. "It's hard to deny but I can no longer continue with my goal. But I am happy to know another like me can…"

"Lee…" Naruto interrupted Lee.

"…You fucking idiot!!"

BAM!!

Naruto punched Lee the same way Gai did when Lee had tried to use the Lotus on Sasuke. The bowl-cut nin flew off the hospital bed and into the wall with his face making first contact with the wall. Minato and Kyuubi both had shocked looks on their faces with their jaws touching the ground. Lee managed get up with swirls in his eyes.

"N-naruto-kun?" Lee asked puzzled.

"Dammit Lee, I can't believe the shit coming out of your mouth. You had better not tell me you're giving up! You're supposed to be the freaking Mototard, Lee. Nothing is supposed to get you down and can get in your way. I heard about the extent of your injuries, they say that you can't be a shinobi anymore. Bull motherfucking shit! You and your sensei can't accept that, you're strong Lee. If there is a will there is a damn way Lee, and if you're going to give up anyway. I am not giving up on you. You helped me so I'll just return the favor, one hard-working loser to another. And if you feel like putting yourself in that sad mood again know that I'll be there for you, to punch some fucking sense into you!" Naruto grinned underneath his mask.

"N-naruto-kun…" Lee stared at Naruto with tears in his eyes. "Y-you're flames of youth, t-thank you." Lee said as he wiped his tears away.

"Not a problem Lee, now get back to bed you. Just cause I told you not to give up doesn't mean it's okay for you to wreck yourself by exercising when you should be asleep."

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto once more had to take off in a hurry. Since the blonde had caused so much noise by punching Lee in the face. The hospital staff had to investigate. It seemed Naruto couldn't stay away from causing commotion. The masked blonde however wasn't ready to leave just yet. He still had to see the Oto-nin he rescued a little while back.

Naruto made his way to Kin's room there was a pair of Anbu posted on guard in front. It seemed that one of the Anbu recognized Naruto immediately, if the blonde didn't know better, he could've sworn the man was smiling underneath his mask.

"Uh hi, I was wondering if I could see the Oto-kunoichi." Naruto asked.

The other Anbu spoke first. "Sorry not without authorization from the Hokage…"

"Oh come on, it's Uzumaki Naruto, he's the one who kept Oto from taking that kunoichi forcibly. Besides you know the Hokage would have given the authorization anyway." The Anbu that seemed to know Naruto said.

"Still though, this goes against SOP." The other Anbu said.

"Oh come on, don't be so worried. If anything bad happens then just put the blame on me."

"But the blame is on you, you're the one is willing to let him in Yamato." The Anbu said.

"You know you shouldn't be saying my name out loud like that even if it isn't my actual name."

The other Anbu just grunted. "Whatever, look Uzumaki don't take your sweet time." Naruto had an eye-smile and started to make his way to the hospital room door.

"Thank you…uh Yamato-san is it?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah you can call me by that, everyone else does. It's not my actual name though. Most of us Anbu don't normally throw names around unless they're just Alias. Well Rin-san is a different case I suppose."

"You know Rin-chan, Yamato-san?" Naruto asked.

"I know your Kakashi-sensei as well. He is my sempai after all." Yamato said happily. "Anyway hurry up and do what you came to do. I'll explain everything later."

Naruto just gave another eye-smile and entered Kin's hospital room. The blonde closed the door behind him. Much to Naruto's surprise he saw Kin trying to leave out the window. Apparently she didn't like staying in the hospital.

"_Well son looks like someone is trying take early leave from the hospital." _

Naruto frowned underneath his mask. He then started to go through some seals. Naruto held out his arm and concentrated.

"Fuuinjutsu:Geki." (Sealing Technique: Strike)

Before Kin could step out of the window, her body was encompassed in a red light. The Oto-kunoichi could no longer move. She was frozen in place. Naruto sighed as he went over and picked up the immobile Kin on his shoulders. Naruto then gently put back down on her bed.

Naruto released the jutsu. "Jeez I didn't think you'd make an attempt to escape so soon." Naruto said as he took a seat on a chair near the bed.

"How did I? Did you do this?!" Kin yelled out.

"Yeah I did and why were you trying to escape?" Naruto asked.

"I told the Konoha-nins everything I know. Why won't all of you let me go?" Kin said angrily.

"Because odds are Oto still wants you captured and since you did hand over information vital to what Oto is planning to do. There will probably be a hit on your head as well. You're safer with us." Naruto said reassuringly.

"But when the village…" Naruto cut off Kin.

"If you're worried about the village coming under attack by Oto and them coming after you keep in mind we know now about the impending attack. Things are going to be different. And besides I'm not going to let anything happen to you. What's the point of saving your life, for you to only get killed by those same people, eh Kin-chan?" Naruto said with an eye-smile.

Kin suddenly blushed at being called Kin-chan. 'D-did he just call me Kin-chan? Not like this is my first time being called that…' Kin's thoughts paused for a moment as bad memories came flooding in.

"Ano, Kin-chan are you blushing?" Naruto asked.

"N-no!!" Kin snapped out her thoughts as she quickly denied the observation.

"_**There goes your son again."**_

"_Go figure…"_

"Your face says otherwise." Naruto said in a matter of fact tone.

Kin looked away in embarrassment. "I don't normally have good experiences when people call me that…" Naruto looked at Kin.

"…Growing up in Oto, it's different than life here in Konoha. The children only have a few purposes for growing up. To become strong ninjas or to become test subjects…" Kin said regrettably.

"The curse seal right?" Naruto asked having encountered a person with a curse seal already.

"Among other things, it wasn't just that seal. Genetic experimentations, drug test subjects, even some aggressive selective breeding."

Naruto understood everything Kin was saying. "Drug tests huh? I guess Mizuki-teme was an expendable test subject too." Naruto said as he remembered what had happened to Mizuki after that fateful night.

"Who's Mizuki?" Kin asked.

"A bastard traitor who had made a deal to steal a very important scroll by manipulating me, he tried to kill me and one of my precious people. I kicked his ass and that bastard used some kind of super-drug to make himself into a freak tiger monster from hell." Naruto said as he gritted his teeth.

"I heard about that one, it went through a lot trial and error just like any other of Orochimaru's experiments. Cost a lot lives for it to work the right way." Kin said knowing what Naruto had run into.

"Yeah well that thing probably needed to kill a lot more people before that nut job got the formula right." Naruto said surprising Kin.

"What do you mean?" Kin asked.

"I found out rather recently when I made a suggestion to Ojii-san that the Anbu should see if Mizuki knew anything about the attack; get a better idea of when the attack plan was conceived. Ojii-san said that Mizuki died the following day after I kicked his ass. Apparently he died in his cell, the drug he took wore off and he became a severely aged and withered old man who died of a heart attack. Bastard got the easy way out of life-long imprisonment." Naruto said with venom.

"Kin-chan, I can only assume that you were with the group that became ninja instead of test subject right?"

'There he goes calling me that again.' Kin thought as she fought back a blush.

"Yes, I became a Kunoichi of Oto. It wasn't easy and it wasn't pleasant either. Like I said I have a bad experience with being called Kin-chan. Usually I was called that when someone felt like making me feel weak or when someone decided they wanted to do something to my body…"

"They didn't, did they?" Naruto asked as he felt a sick feeling in his gut.

"Of course they didn't, I fought them off, that didn't mean I got out of it unharmed. I guess having to deal with that helped make me stronger. I had to after all, being weak in Oto meant you'd be dead that much sooner." Kin said with malice.

"But it looks like I've used up my worth. Since it was apparent Oto wanted to use me for something other than a hidden spy." Kin said grimly.

"Kin-chan, like I said nothing's going to happen to you. I'll make sure of it myself." Naruto said with determination.

"But why?! Nobody stands a chance against Orochimaru! Why do you want to throw your life away?!" Kin burst with anger and confusion.

"Everybody seems to like underestimating me. Let's just say protecting people…doing the things I do…I just have to do it. I want to be the Hokage one day. What kind of Hokage would I be if I couldn't grant asylum to those who need it?"

"But I-I back in the "Forest of Death" my team we hurt that girl…" Kin said with guilt.

"I admit that what you and your team did, attacking my team was unnecessary. Then again it was the Chunnin Exams unexpected things like that happen. But what happened to the woman I love. Was all on that bastard who attacked, I admit I have to take blame as well for my brash recklessness. But you had nothing to do with it." Naruto got up and started to make his way out of the hospital room.

"Besides you and I have a similar upbringing, growing up here wasn't heaven on earth either. Though I have no right to say I might have had it worse." Naruto said as he was about to open the door.

"What do you mean? How could the village treat a shinobi of their own bad?" Kin asked.

Naruto stopped. "For now I can't tell you because it's a village secret and you can't entirely be trusted yet, no offense…"

"None taken." Kin responded.

"I'll tell you this though, that power you saw me use in the "Forest of Death." Let's just say in these parts in the eyes of quite a few I am a demon to them." Before Kin could ask, Naruto was out the door.

XXXXXXXXXX

'Well I think that's pretty much everyone off of the checklist, well actually I still gotta say hi to…' As Naruto was about to finish his thought the person in mind shows up.

"Haku-chan!" Naruto said as he went over to Haku.

'It's Naruto-kun what's he doing here so early? I guess he couldn't wait to see Hinata-chan. He really does love her…I know those two are happy together…but I at least want him to know my feelings.'

"Good morning Naruto-kun." Haku said sounding pleasantly surprised.

"Morning to you to, how are you this morning?" Naruto asked.

"Well I'm just glad to see you." Haku said with only slight hint of blush on her face.

"That's good to know." Naruto said with an eye-smile. "Well I better get to my training for today, last thing I need is for Gai-sensei to come busting through the wall looking for me."

Naruto started walking away until Haku suddenly grabbed the blonde's wrist. "Wait Naruto-kun…" Naruto turned to face Haku.

"Yeah what is it Haku-chan?" Naruto asked innocently.

Haku blushed. "I-I need to talk to you about something important…can we go somewhere a little more private?" Haku asked.

"Okay I guess." Naruto said a little confused.

"Um, really Naruto-kun?" Haku asked.

"If it's important then Gai-sensei will understand." Naruto said. Haku led Naruto to an empty hospital room.

"So what's up?" Naruto asked.

"You and Hinata-chan, you two are together now right?" Haku asked with a blush.

"Well yeah, I love her and she loves me." Naruto said he then noticed a sad look on Haku's face.

"_Son um, I don't know how to put this but it looks like…"_

"You don't need to tell me dad. I think I know what's going on here, after all I can't be an idiot forever right?"

Naruto walked up to Haku and pulled his mask down. "This isn't about me and Hinata-chan is it? What you want to talk to me about is, me and you, isn't it?" Naruto asked Haku blushed from the close proximity.

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun I know you love Hinata-chan but…" Before Haku could finish what she was going to say Naruto stopped her.

"You have your feelings for me too right?" Haku had a surprised look on her face.

"I know I've built up a reputation of being blunt and all, but your dad said it himself. You have a crush on me."

"It isn't just a crush Naruto-kun, I-I love you." Naruto had a conflicted expression on his face; he then took a heavy breath.

"It must be hard on you to see someone you are in love with being in love with someone else isn't it?" Naruto asked Haku could only nod.

"That's what it was like for Hinata-chan too, I was a hopeless case for a while when it came to Sakura-san. Things changed for me however, a lot of things changed actually. Maybe I could have been yours at some point Haku-chan, maybe." Naruto said with a heavy heart.

"I know Naruto-kun. I'm sorry I have to do this to you. I wasn't expecting this to change things. I still want to at least be a close friend Naruto-kun." Haku said in an almost pleading tone. Naruto hugged Haku to calm her down. The former assassin could only blush from the contact.

"That's all I can be for you Haku-chan. My heart belongs to my angel." Naruto said as he was about to let go of the hug.

"Wait!" Haku said as she suddenly put her hands on both sides of Naruto's face.

The blonde blushed in Haku's hands. "I know your heart belongs to Hinata-chan, I can't change that and it would be wrong for me to try and go against that. But at least accept my heart…" Haku said as she suddenly and somewhat forcefully pressed her lips against Naruto's own lips.

"Mmmph…" Naruto tried to say something but it seemed Haku's lips weren't letting up. The blonde's eyes were wide open with shock while Haku's eyes were squeezed shut. She almost looked like a child who was in a dream she refused to wake up from.

It was hard for Naruto to break free; Haku just kept leaning forward into the kiss. It was hard to break out of a kiss with a girl who was taller and leaning in closer and closer. Suddenly Naruto lost balance and fell on his back with Haku on top. The kiss only broke a split second, the sudden impact with the floor to the back of his head caused Naruto's mouth to open. If Naruto's eyes could fly out of his head it would have been right there and then, when Haku slipped her tongue into the blonde's mouth.

"_**Yeah! Wooo!! Go for the goal woman!!" **_Kyuubi cheered on while making howls and whistles.

"_Quiet you…" _Mianto said as he stood in front of Kyuubi and sent his elbow into the demon's stomach.

BAM!

Kyuubi choked and gagged and then fell to his own knees in pain._** "Why…cough…can't I have…cough…wheeze…fun…" **_

Only a few moments longer and Haku finally broke the kiss. Her face was flushed as she got up off of Naruto. The blonde himself was just lying there still shocked.

'I give my heart to one woman and another gives me hers. Life just got a little complicated.' Naruto thought.

"_**Understatement of the year…"**_

"Shut up…"

"_Shut up…" _Naruto and Minato said to Kyuubi.

"I-I'm sorry Naruto-kun but…"

"Forget about it Haku-chan. I can't blame you…" Naruto said as he got up and walked out the hospital room. Haku stared at Naruto's back as he started to leave.

"N-naruto-kun, I wasn't just saying all of that." Haku said in a sad tone.

"I know…" Naruto said as he turned around to face Haku, she was still sitting there on the hospital floor.

"I meant it Naruto-kun when I said I gave you my heart." Haku was on the verge of tears, her face's expression however turned to surprise when she felt soft lips press against her cheek.

"Hush now, you don't need to tell me twice. I know Haku-chan…and I am sorry that I am putting you through this. I don't want to hurt any of my precious people. But in this case I don't know what to do." Naruto said as he once again made his way out.

"No Naruto-kun it wasn't your fault I…" This time around Naruto was gone, he had already left.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Jeez gaki! Where the hell were you? You actually convince me to train you and you decide to show up late? What's wrong with you?" Jiraiya said in an agitated tone, not sounding too mad but wanting to scold Naruto.

The blonde himself wasn't exactly paying attention to the old sage; he was still rather distracted by the early morning's turn of events.

"I'm sorry what were you saying Ero-sennin?" Naruto gave the Sannin an uncaring look.

"Gaki have I told you that you're starting to remind me of one of your father's students?" Jiraiya asked sarcastically.

"Sorry Ero-sennin but I got a lot on my mind this morning." Naruto said.

Jiraiya suddenly had a lecherous smile on his face. "Women problem is it young man? Well I got just the solu…"

BAM!!!

"_You are not needed in this situation!!" _Minato yelled out through Naruto while kicking Jiraiya in the face.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Alright then gaki…" Jiraiya pulled a large scroll off of his back. "This is the Toad Summoning contract. Anyone who wants to summon a member of the Toads needs to sign this contract. I've signed it and so has your father."

Jiraiya started to unroll the scroll and Naruto observed seeing all the names that were signed in red. Apparently it was blood from what Naruto could tell. The blonde smiled under his mask when he saw that the last signature was his father's name.

"Now then gaki, sign the contract with your blood and you will be able to summon the Toads."

Naruto did as he was told; he was then showed how to perform the necessary seals for the Kuchiyose no Jutsu. After getting a pretty good idea, Naruto started to focus his chakra and went through the seals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto shouted.

POOF!!

"_Hello! Do you have any candy?"_ A small orange toad wearing a blue vest asked.

"Who might you be little guy?" Naruto asked the toad.

"_My name is Gamakichi and you are?"_ The toad asked back.

"Uzumaki Naruto and I am the person that summoned you." Naruto said with an eye-smile and hand held out for a handshake.

"_Not too bad son, usually first timers or nins with bad chakra control end up summoning tadpoles." _Minato said while Naruto was shaking hands with Gamakichi.

"Shows how much I've improved huh dad?" Naruto asked his father.

It seemed that Naruto and Gamakichi were getting along rather quick. Naruto coincidentally did have a piece of candy on him. That just make Gamakichi like Naruto more, the small toad decided to hang around and took a seat on Naruto's left shoulder.

"Not bad Gaki, to be honest first timers don't normally manage to summon a very developed toad." Jiraiya said.

"I know dad told me." Naruto said.

"_Ne, who's your dad and where is he?"_ Gamakichi asked.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you later." Naruto said to the toad resting on his shoulder.

"Now then let's see if you can summon someone bigger. Try and use the Kyuubi's chakra." Jiraiya said.

"Alright then." Naruto said as he concentrated. 'Dad if you may…' Naruto thought.

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again. The blondes cerulean eyes were now crimson with black slits. His nails began to grow into claws as he began performing the seals needed.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

POOOF!!

In a much larger puff of smoke an even larger toad was summoned. This one was about the same size as Gamabunta but was light brown and gray skinned. He had on an obi that was wrapped around his back and stomach. And stuck through the obi in an x-shape cross were two very large wakizashi.

"_Oi, who summoned me here I was out having a drink with my brothers Bunta and Ken." _The large toad looked around and saw Jiraiya.

"_Was it you Jiraiya?" _The toad asked.

"_Hey uncle Hiro!! Down here!" _Gamakichi yelled out from where he was.

"_Oh if it isn't little Kichi-chan. What are you doing here? What am I doing here?"_

"I summoned Gamakichi and you too. I am Uzumaki Naruto nice to meet you." Naruto yelled out.

"_I am Gamahiro The Demolisher Toad. Normally Jiraiya is the one that summons me whenever the man needs me to lay siege on someone. I'm surprised someone like you managed to summon me." _

"Well I'm just full of surprises after all." Naruto grinned underneath his mask. "You know I think you look really cool with those twin blades on your back." Naruto said while he pulled out his twin kodachi from their Bo staff sheath.

"See I carry my own twin blades."

"_Wow that's cool Naruto! Look uncle Hiro, twin blades just like you." _Gamakichi said excitedly not expecting there to be blades inside of Naruto's staff.

"_Hmm, not bad little one, it's always nice to meet another user of twin swords. I think I'm starting to like you. Well this will be a nice change of pace for me. Bunta maybe considered the strongest cause he went toe to toe with Kyuubi but it's really hard to tell among myself and my brothers. But call on me when you need some demolishing done. Whether it's smashing blockades or waves of enemy, I'm the toad to call. Don't disappoint me, Jiraiya is the only one to ever summon me and that's if he doesn't need Bunta. I need some more action."_

"Will do Gamahiro." Naruto said to the large toad.

"_Now then, Gamakichi I'll see you later. I still got some drinks to have with your father and your uncle Ken." _

"_Alright then, bye uncle Hiro!" _Gamakichi shouted as his uncle disappeared in a giant wave of smoke.

"Not bad gaki, not bad at all. You really are your father's son. Your first try you managed to get a young toad and second try you summoned the Demolisher Toad."

"YOSH!! That was amazing Naruto-kun!! I saw everything your flames of you youth burn brightly!!" Gai yelled out surprising everyone.

"WHOA! Where the hell did you come from?!!"

"_WHOA! Where the hell did you come from?!!"_

"WHOA! Where the hell did you come from?!!" Naruto, Jiraiya and Gamakichi yelled out at the same time, all three nearly having a heart stroke.

**AN:**_ Not exactly a great way to end the chapter but I didn't want to cram too much events in one chapter and make it seem like the change of plot was happening too fast or too irregularly. Anyway I'll try and get the next chapter up fast as I can. Anyways I might have some other new fics up in different categories over the next months or so, we'll see. By the way I got the name for the Demolshier Toad from the recent chapters of Naruto. Since the Demolisher was called Hiro, so I figured his full name was Gamahiro. _


	19. More Complications and Solutions?

**AN: **_Sorry this chapter took a while to get out. Had a bit of problem finishing it since I had to go do a field drill in Texas for two weeks. Then I had to find the file. And then I had my first Fourth of July as a Marine. And then blah blah blah, one thing after another kept getting in the way basically. I'm very sorry; also currently I am going to try and go through all my previous chapters and correct some mistakes and so forth. _

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'Talk': Thought

"_Talk": _Minato, Toads

Chapter 18: More Complications…And Solutions?

Days passed and soon weeks went by as well. Naruto continued to train under Gai. It seemed that Jiraiya didn't have much else to teach Naruto at the moment. Which wasn't a problem at all for Naruto, he was going to stick with his plan to use taijutsu against Neji. Of course the blonde needed to formulate a plan for taking on everyone else in the finals. Learning Kuchiyose was helpful and would come in handy.

It was only a few days left and Naruto still continued on with the training. It seemed that Jiraiya had taken off somewhere. It was apparent he was still in the village but was attending to other matters. Naruto kept pushing himself under Gai's training. Being that it was a modified training regiment, Naruto wasn't exactly learning everything the same way as Lee did. But that seemed to go with Naruto's plan.

For today the training was done and now Naruto was going to visit Hinata in the hospital. On his way their Naruto thought about Haku. He knew she would still be on her shift at the hospital. Things weren't necessarily strained between Naruto and Haku but it was still awkward.

'We haven't said anything about that day, neither one of us wants to say anything. And yet we want to.' Naruto thought.

"Hey gaki!" A familiar sounding gruff voice yelled out.

Naruto turned around as he saw Zabuza wearing his Konoha Jounin uniform and his massive zanbato strapped to his back. It looked like Zabuza was pissed then again with those bandages wrapped around his face as a mask it was kind of hard to tell.

"What's going on Zabuza?" Naruto asked, before he knew it Zabuza had Naruto by the collar and dragged the nin to an alley.

"What the hell did you do to my daughter?!" Zabuza said as he slammed Naruto against a wall.

"W-what are you talking about?" Naruto asked somewhat confused.

"Haku hasn't been acting herself. She tries to hide it but I noticed. I know it has to do with you. Did you hurt her?! Cause if you did…"

Something snapped in Naruto as soon as he heard Zabuza ask him if he had hurt Haku. Naruto broke out of the Zabuza's grip and immediately sent his fist into Zabuza's gut, the former nuke-nin stepped back from pain in his lower abdomen. Before he could do anything else Naruto punched Zabuza in the face.

"How dare you ask me that?! I wouldn't hurt any of my precious people!" Naruto said in anger.

"Maybe not intentionally…" Zabuza said as he recovered from the blows. "But something happened, so spit it out!" Zabuza sent a right hook into Naruto's cheek.

Naruto quickly recovered, a spot of blood could be seen forming on Naruto's mask. The blonde's anger subsided long enough to be reminded of what had happened between himself and Haku.

"Y-you're right…something did happen…" Naruto said as he leaned against the alley wall.

Meanwhile

…at the hospital…

Rin had some sort of meeting to attend to with the hospital staff. Because of that Haku was asked to check on Hinata. She was rather hesitant about checking up on Hinata. After all she did confess her feelings to Naruto. And Hinata is his lover.

"Hinata-chan, how are you today?" Haku asked while checking Hinata.

"Well I kind of wish I could leave the hospital already. But doctor's orders are doctor's orders." Hinata said.

"Yes it is still too soon, you did after all suffer some rather severe internal injuries. You may look fine on the outside but inside is still a different story."

Hinata looked at the window Naruto usually came in from. "I wonder if Naruto-kun is running a little late today." Hinata said.

The mere mention of Naruto's name made Haku a little uneasy and Hinata noticed. "Haku-chan what's wrong?" Hinata asked.

"I-it's nothing Hinata-chan…" Haku said in a panicked manner.

Hinata recognized how Haku reacted; it brought back memories of her in the old days. 'It must be about Naruto-kun.' Hinata thought.

"Haku-chan this is about Naruto-kun right?" Hinata asked Haku tried to deny.

"Don't try to deny it. I know how you feel. Because I used to be like that too whenever someone asked me if I was thinking about him, you like him don't you? Your father made it rather obvious that first time we met." Hinata said.

'Oh I'm really starting to hate Otou-san now.' Haku thought.

"It's okay for you to say you like Naruto-kun." Hinata said a little nervously.

"Well the thing is though, I-I love him Hinata-chan. I'm sorry…" Haku said with a blush, Hinata for a moment looked a little surprised at her statement.

"That's alright; Naruto-kun has that effect on women I guess. He can really be the charmer and not now it." Hinata said thinking about all those times Naruto had gotten so close to her not fully realizing it yet.

"I-it's more than t-that Hinata-chan…I'm really sorry…but I kissed Naruto-kun the day after your father had visited…" The words and actions occurred almost spontaneously with Hinata as she heard Haku apologize.

"You what?!"

SLAP!!

Hinata yelled out as she slapped Haku in the face. Right after that both Haku and Hinata had surprised looks on their faces. Neither of them was expecting that. Haku rubbed her own slightly bruised cheek and Hinata held her hand looking at it still surprised that she did that.

"I-I'm sorry Haku-chan I didn't mean to…" Hinata tried to apologize.

"No I deserved it; I did something I shouldn't have. Even though I knew Naruto-kun is your lover and he loves you with all his heart. What I did was wrong…but Naruto-kun is the only man I can love. No one else…" Haku said in a sad tone.

Hinata knew all too well of those feelings of thinking she could never be with Naruto-kun. She always had that anxiety that Sakura would one day take Naruto away from her. She knew that Haku had felt that same pain.

"Tell me Haku-chan why do you love my Naruto-kun so much?" Hinata asked a little hesitantly.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Haku she wanted to talk to me about my relationship with Hinata-chan. In the end she told me that she's in love with me." Naruto said.

"And?" Zabuza said.

"She…kissed me…"

BAM!!

Naruto felt a fist collide with his left eye. The blonde's head flew back and smashed into the wall behind him. "I said she kissed me!!" Naruto yelled.

"I know! My bad…it was like a reflex…" Zabuza said.

"So is that all that happened?" Zabuza asked as he rubbed his knuckles.

"Yes that's all…jeez what the hell else do you think happened?" Naruto asked defensively.

"On second thought don't answer that…last thing I need is for you to punch me on reflex again…" Naruto grumbled.

"Well what are you going to do about it?" Zabuza asked.

"What the hell is this no-brow? 20 freaking questions what the hell can I do about it?! I love Hinata-chan; I gave my heart to her. I'm going to marry her some day!" Naruto yelled with the utmost seriousness.

"So…" Zabuza said plainly.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN "SO!!?" Naruto yelled out as he sent a fist to Zabuza's gut.

BAM!!

"…cough…cough…damn…cough…your…cough…hits…got a lot…cough…harder…" Zabuza said as he started to keel.

"Thanks I've been training…" Naruto said. It took a little bit for Zabuza to get a hold of himself after that last hit.

"Look gaki, I'm not asking you to break up with that Hyuuga girl. Obviously you are very much in love with her and she loves you back. You two have known each other for quite some time also. But you heard it yourself, Haku loves you. She wants to be with you but she's too kind hearted to go and get what she wants. And it's not like Haku wants to be with anyone else, she only wants to be with you…"

"So what do you want me to do then Zabuza?" Naruto asked wanting an answer that could just make everyone happy.

"Well why don't you be with my daughter?" Zabuza asked bluntly.

"What?!" Naruto shouted. "You just said you're not asking me to break up with Hinata-chan!"

"And I'm not gaki, what I'm saying is why can't you be with both of them?" Had it not been for his mask, one could see Naruto's jaw dropped down.

"_**Hey kit I think bandage face has a pretty damn good idea you should probably run with it." **_Kyuubi said with a grin.

"_Shut up you've been quiet the whole time jeez…keep it that way." _Minato said as he smacked the back of Kyuubi's head.

"W-what do you mean b-be with them both?" Naruto asked confused.

"You heard me, why can't you be with them both. I mean you don't want to break up with the Hyuuga girl. But I honestly think Haku wants to be with you regardless. She won't care as long she can be with you." Zabuza said in an almost matter fact of manner.

"Do you realize how out of your mind you sound right now? I've been known to a pretty dim guy at times. But for fucks sake your practically asking me to be a polygamist?!" Naruto yelled out.

"Polygamist? Well since you put that way I suppose that is what I'm asking you to do…" Zabuza paused to see Naruto's slack jaw expression. "Look gaki, I've never particularly been in anything you would consider a relationship let alone had someone explain to me what's right and wrong with certain relationship dynamics. To put it simply I don't see what's wrong."

If Naruto's jaw dropped down any lower, Zabuza probably could've taken Naruto's Bo, removed his mask and wedge it in from top to bottom holding the blonde's mouth open. Minato wasn't exactly fairing any better himself since he found it rather shocking what Zabuza was saying to his son.

Back at the Hospital

"Naruto-kun…" Haku started. "When we first met, and I told him about my past…he told me his. It turned out we had similar upbringings. And later when he had the chance to kill me he didn't, he saved my father by taking a death blow for him. And he killed the man that was going to betray and kill myself and my father…if that isn't any good reason to fall in love with him then I don't know what is." Haku said intently.

Hinata stared at Haku for a moment, 'I guess those are good reasons, she truly is in love with him. But I love Naruto-kun. We're together now…' Hinata thought.

"Please Hinata-chan don't think that I want you two to break up. I love Naruto-kun but that doesn't mean I want him to stop being with you that would be wrong. He loves you with everything in his being." Haku said.

"But you still want to be with Naruto-kun don't you?" Hinata asked.

"Y-yes I don't think I could love any other man more than Naruto." Haku said sadly.

"She's just like me, if Naruto had been with Haku-chan or Ayame-chan, or even **Sakura**…" Hinata said the last part with distaste. "…I couldn't bring myself to even think of maybe loving someone else besides Naruto-kun. I would be in same situation as Haku-chan. But what can I do about it…" Hinata thought feeling some sympathy for Haku. Before Hinata could say anything someone entering the Hospital room via window was noticed.

"See gaki I told you she would love you regardless, she still wants to be with you." Zabuza said.

"Dammit bandage face this isn't helping anybody." Naruto said it was obvious the two had heard the last parts of Hinata and Haku's conversation.

"O-otou-san what are you doing here?" Haku asked completely caught off guard.

"What do you think I'm trying to make sure you get the bo…err…man you love." Zabuza said bluntly.

Haku noticeably blushed. "Otou-san please do not try to force Naruto-kun into doing anything he doesn't want to, I won't forgive you if you did that to him!" Haku yelled out in anger at her own father.

Zabuza blinked owlishly for a few moments. 'Did she just snap at me? Jeez, she's more concerned for Naruto than getting what she wants. She really is in love with him, alright gaki now you have to be with her.' Zabuza thought.

"I'm not trying to get him to break up with the Hyuuga and be with you." Zabuza said defensively. "I just made the mere suggestion that you and the Hyuuga can both be with Naruto."

"Nani!?" Both Hinata and Haku shouted.

Naruto slapped his hand to his forehead and grumbled. "I hate you so much right now Zabuza." Naruto said with annoyance.

"Otou-san! Why would you try and force something like that on Naruto-kun?!" Haku yelled at her father once more.

"Oh come on! Stop making me look like a bad-guy. I'm just doing what any good father should do for they're daughter. And like I said I didn't force him into anything! I merely suggested is all…" Zabuza said.

"…Look I know you want to be with…huh…what are you…" Before Zabuza could question what was happening, the former missing-nin found himself being dragged out of the room by his own daughter.

"Enough of this Otou-san you're causing too much trouble." Haku said embarrassed and shocked.

Both Naruto and Hinata looked at the scene awkwardly. "Oi gaki, remember what I said alright! You had better think about it! And then say yes!!" Zabuza's words echoed as he was pulled out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXX

"This just hasn't been my day…" Naruto sighed as he took a seat next to Hinata's bed side.

Naruto then looked at Hinata and gave sad look. "I was going to tell you…" It was an obvious lie.

"It's alright Naruto-kun, I know you didn't have anything to do with it and didn't mean for any of it to happen." Hinata said reassuringly.

"But still I should have told you sooner, I shouldn't have kept something like that and…" Naruto stopped talking as Hinata hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

"That's enough Naruto, you didn't anything wrong…"

'Didn't do anything wrong…' Naruto thought grimly. "I didn't do anything wrong and yet I know this is my entire fault but what can I do about it? I don't want to hurt Haku-chan. I don't do that to my precious people. Dad you wouldn't happen to know what I can do about this problem, would you?"

"_You know son, to an extent not wanting to hurt someone you care for can be interpreted as love." _Minato said.

"Wait what? Dad what are you trying to tell me?!" Naruto asked frantically.

"_I'm not trying to tell you anything other than what you need to hear to help you make a decision on what you want to do." _Minato said wisely.

"Naruto-kun?" Naruto was brought back to reality by Hinata.

"What is it Tenshi-chan?" Naruto asked.

"Ano, what happens now Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked with some concern.

"What do you mean what happens now? If you're talking about with Haku-chan, I like her, she's my friend and a precious person…but I love you and I don't want to stop being with you." Naruto said intently.

"I know Naruto-kun, but I know that it troubles you. I know you enough to know you don't want to hurt those close to you." Hinata said.

"But I don't know what to do Tenshi-chan…" Naruto said trying not to show his confusion and frustration.

"It must be so hard on you Naruto-kun, I'm sorry I have to bring this up…" Hinata said.

"No Tenshi-chan don't apologize for something I can't figure out on my own. I always wanted to have people, no friends, precious people who care about me, precious people I could protect. And here I am I have what I want I can't do a damn thing to keep from hurting them." Naruto said upset.

"No Naruto-kun that's not what you're doing…" Hinata said as she leaned over her hospital bed and pulled Naruto into a hug. "Come here…" Hinata whispered in a soothing manner. Naruto complied as he climbed into the bed and rested his face in the crook of Hinata's shoulder.

"I don't know what to do Tenshi-chan; I don't want to hurt her. She loves me but what can I do?" Naruto said confused and upset.

"Naruto-kun…ano…there is one thing you can do." Hinata said a huge part of her didn't want to mention it, but she knew Naruto wanted a solution and this was it.

"Momichi-sama did say that you could be with both of me and Haku-chan." Naruto's eyes widened with surprise.

"No, I can't do that. It isn't right and I love you Tenshi-chan." Naruto said desperately as he pulled out of the embrace to speak to Hinata face to face.

Hinata pulled Naruto back into the hug. "I know that Naruto-kun, but I also know that this is something you won't let go until you solve this problem. You don't want to hurt Haku-chan, I know. But you know that the only way you can do that is if you will be with her." Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"_**Damn kit, your woman doesn't mind you having another girl in your life. I say you go for it!" **_Kyuubi whistled and woofed.

"_You are the worst cellmate in all existence…" _Minato grumbled. _"This is a very serious moment in my son's life and you are just…I can't say anything to describe your jackassery!" _

"A-are you trying to say that you're willing to…" Naruto was stopped by Hinata.

"I-I guess I'm trying to say I'm willing to share you Naruto-kun…" Hinata said.

"B-but…" Naruto was once more stopped by Hinata.

"Please Naruto-kun let me finish. Don't get me wrong if there was another way out of this I would rather that than share you. But I made a promise to you and myself that I would always be there for you. And in part I would always love you. Don't think I will love you any less by telling you this and I know you wouldn't love me any less either. I will always be with you Naruto-kun no matter what and I would do anything for you. And if you need to do this then nothing would change between us." Hinata said as she held Naruto a little tighter.

"You really are my angel…" Naruto said moved by Hinata's devotion and love for him.

"But Tenshi-chan it's one thing do this to keep from hurting Haku-chan but I…" Naruto paused. "I don't want to just give Haku an empty relationship. She deserves more than that but how can I bring myself to love her. I love you with all my heart. I have nothing to give her." Naruto said.

"What's the point of giving her the relationship she wants if it doesn't have the most important thing to it, love?" Naruto said sadly.

"_And my son makes a rather valid point." _

"_**Che, it doesn't always have to have love. As long it has some really great se…"**_

BAM!!

"_Don't finish that damn sentence." _Minato said with his fist dug into Kyuubi's face.

"Naruto-kun I think your need to keep from hurting Haku-chan, to protect her…" Hinata was interrupted.

"…can also be counted as love?" Naruto finished Hinata's sentence.

"How did you…" Hinata said surprised.

"Know? It seems you and my father both has the same idea." Naruto gave a somewhat grim chuckle.

"_See son, even Hinata-chan thinks that." _

"Dad I'm starting to think furball is rubbing off on you after all these years. Because to me it sounds like you want me to have more than one girlfriend." Naruto said suspiciously.

"_Hey that's not fair! Can you blame me for wanting my clan restored?" _Minato said defensively.

"_**Hey you fucking hypocrite asshole, you beat the crap out of me every time I make that suggestion and now here you are doing the same thing!" **_

"_Yeah well I have honorable reasons for wanting more than one daughter-in-law. I'm thinking of the well being of the Namikaze clan. Also I don't want my son to be a heartbreaker to the women in his life who are important and close to him. You on the other hand furball are just a sex fiend."_

"_**What?! And wanting great sex with plenty of beautiful women isn't an honorable reason? Well I'll be damned." **_

"_Yes you are damned, remember?!" _

"Dad when you say women in my life, it sounds like your referring to more than just Hinata and Haku." Naruto said eyeing his father suspiciously.

"_Well it's just for safe measure I think a little more than two women would suffice." _Minato said nervously.

"I can't fucking believe you dad!! What the hell?! You're no worse than furball or Ero-Sennin."

"_Whaaat?! Now that is not fair, do not lower me down to their level. I am not thinking of the more intimate aspect. More so I am just thinking about how there will be other women in the future who will fall for you and not for petty reasons, and that it can be beneficiary in keeping the clan blood from shrinking."_

"Only because you're my father and I am pretty sure you're not a pervert…somewhat sure now…that I don't look down on you as one." Naruto said regrettably.

"_That hurt son…"_

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto told Hinata about the little conversation he had with his father, after Naruto started to have awkward expressions on his face. He had the kind of expressions you get when you are disgusted, ashamed, and embarrassed with someone.

"Naruto-kun are you going to well…" Hinata felt uneasy asking the question, despite having already said that she would be okay with any decision Naruto would have made.

"I need to think about it Tenshi-chan. This isn't something I can't just have an answer for right off the bat. Even after hearing everything…" Naruto said.

"Take as much time as you need Naruto-kun, just remember I will be with you no matter decision you make." Hinata said as she kissed Naruto on the lips.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto ended up spending another night in the hospital with Hinata. The two shared the hospital bed together. It seemed that once again through the night and course of sleep, Naruto and Hinata ended up in another somewhat compromising position. This time around it was Naruto sleeping atop Hinata with his face buried in Hinata's collarbone. And Hinata's arms wrapped tightly around Naruto's back. The morning of course started off with the usual antics of Rin giving an unexpected wake up call, Minato and Kyuubi arguing, and Naruto being embarrassed and falling off the bed.

After the antics were done and breakfast was eaten, Naruto gave Hinata a goodbye kiss and took off. On the way out Naruto decided he needed another opinion on the predicament he was in. So Naruto approached Rin about his current complications.

"Um Rin-chan, before I take off I need to talk to you about something." Naruto said trying not to sound nervous.

"Sure thing Naruto-kun, what do you need to talk about?" Rin said with a warm motherly smile.

Naruto proceeded to take a long and deep breath. Then the blonde brought Rin up to speed with everything that happened last night and the previous days. All of which included, Haku's confession from the heart. Zabuza's little interrogation and suggestion…more like order. And Hinata's reasoning for being okay with the suggestion.

"I'm gonna kill that bastard!!" Rin yelled at the top of her lungs.

Naruto backed away in fear; Minato and Kyuubi were startled as well. "You're not going to kill Zabuza are you? I mean sure he was a little forward about the idea but he isn't to blame." Naruto said desperately trying not to have a former missing-nin killed.

"I know it's not his fault, I wasn't talking about him. But I will have to kick his ass later!" Rin responded with anger not directed at Naruto, the blonde could only have an eyebrow twitch.

"Then who are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"It was probably that bastard Kakashi! I can't believe I fell in love with that perverted bastard!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Somewhere in Konoha, Kakashi felt an ominous chill run down his spine. "Why do I get the feeling that someone plans on hurting me real bad right now?"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Wait…why Kakashi-sensei, Rin-chan?" Naruto asked panicked.

"I know that bastard has something to do with this. I just know it! That bastard had made the "sharing" suggestion to Ayame when I was talking to her about her feelings for you!" Rin yelled out.

Naruto suddenly had a puzzled and shocked look on his face. "Nani!? Ayame-chan wanted to share me?! Wait…she likes me…in that way?!" Naruto was wide eyed and slack jawed.

'Oh shit Naruto-kun still doesn't know about Ayame!' Rin thought.

"Well cat's out of the bag now…I was hoping you would find out yourself or she would tell you once she found out about your relationship with Hinata-chan. She doesn't know right?" Rin asked just to make sure she hadn't missed out on something.

"Well no I guess not unless word got around. I haven't been at "Ichiraku's" for a while. After I told Hinata-chan about how I felt for her. I spent all my time afterwards either at home, training for the finals or here at the hospital with Hinata-chan." Naruto said.

"Well I'm sorry you had to find out this way…" Rin said regrettably.

'Jeez more complications…' Naruto thought.

"_**The hell do you mean more complications?! You got even more booty to handle now boy! Run with it! Don't leave them all hurt, you can love them all…gaghh!!" **_Kyuubi started gagging as a fist collided with his throat.

"_We do this again and again and again Kami dammit! Maybe punching you in the throat will keep your mouth shut a little bit longer." _

"Dad did you know about this?" Naruto suddenly asked his father.

"_Eh, no?"_

"That was a phenomenally horrible lie dad." Naruto deadpanned to his father.

Minato rubbed the back of his head nervously. _"Well like Rin-chan said, I was just waiting for you to find out for yourself or when she told you herself." _

"Dad, were you actually entertaining the chance I might not have ended up being with Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked his father suspiciously.

"_Well I did want to give the other young ladies a fair chance so…"_

"Dad this is not making things any better between you and me." Naruto said angrily.

"_**W…what does it matter…kit?! You can have them all now…cough…" **_Kyuubi wheezed out while struggling to speak with a punched throat.

"_Oh for the love of…why won't you stay quiet?!" _Minato yelled as he charged at Kyuubi.

'I guess I'm not gonna get another straight answer from dad for awhile.' Naruto thought.

"So uh, apart from you wanting to murder a couple of guys, Rin-chan what's your say on my situation. I kinda need the help right now." Naruto said.

"Oh! I'm sorry Naruto-kun; I just got a little carried away. Personally I feel you shouldn't become a polygamist womanizer, since that is how I see just about anyone who wants to have more than one woman by his side." Rin said sternly.

"But I know you are too good of man to become something like that. In truth you have nothing to lose by not doing this…"

"But I don't want to hurt Haku-chan…" Naruto said abruptly.

"Let me finish Naruto-kun, I know you have nothing to lose but I know you will leave Haku's heart aching for you. And for you that is something you don't want to do to Haku. To me Naruto-kun I think you have the capacity to love Haku. Not the same ways as you do for Hinata but to love her the way she wants to be loved by you."

"You really think that?" Naruto asked.

"I know so, besides it's gonna take more than a perverted sensei, perverted Sage, and a perverted fox demon to corrupt you Naruto-kun." Rin said contently.

"Now then go and do what you need to do Naruto-kun. Make your decision and go with it Naruto-kun, no matter what happens I know you'll make the right choice." Rin said as she hugged Naruto like a mother would hug her son.

"Thanks Rin-chan…" Naruto said as he hugged Rin back.

"_Rin-chan, I'm so proud of you. I know you would have been a great adoptive mother for my son." _Minato said proudly while standing over a beaten heap of Kyuubi.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Well Naruto-kun it's only a few days to the Finals now. And I am proud to say that you have shown excellent progress in your training. Your youthfulness truly shines; now then I believe you should take these last few days to recover. Training is good but wearing yourself out the day before your match isn't good. So take it easy, you've made great progress." Gai said to Naruto with his signature smile and thumbs up.

"Thanks Gai-sensei, I really appreciated the training you gave me these last few weeks. Neji is going to get his ass handed to him on the finals." Naruto said with an eye-smile.

"Now that is some determination Naruto-kun, your Flames of Youth burn brightly!" Gai said loudly.

"I'm gonna miss that about you Gai, always so…motivated…" Naruto rubbed the back of his head as he started to head off into town.

XXXXXXXXXX

'I've gotten that part of the day over with. Now then I got to see Haku-chan. It's about time I get all of this over with.' Naruto thought.

"_So I guess that means you decided on what to do?" _Minato asked his son.

"I have dad, but you won't know my decision until it happens."

"_Aww! But I want to know if I'm gonna have more grandkids?" _Mianto whined and pouted.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was a busy day in Konoha as it was with the day before. It was only a few days left before the Finals for the Chunnin Exams. And everyone was getting ready for it, after all even though the event was being held in one village it was an international gathering. With foreign dignitaries, military leaders, and above all the Kages and Daimiyos of the other Hidden Villages and Elemental Nations, security was of the utmost importance. Especially since Konoha received intel on a potential attack.

Because of the impending attack, Konoha's forces were on the highest readiness and preparedness in years. If someone were to attack they were going to be in for a fight, the council made sure they were prepared for a war if anything. They had called everyone back from any out of village missions. They had also called their reserve forces in as well. Also the Hokage made sure that Jiraiya was going to stay in the village for now.

Currently the foreign guests of honor were already starting to enter the village. At the moment it was only a few of them and the others would be coming later on through the day or the following day after or even the day of the Finals. But despite only being a small number of the guests arriving, with their entourages and security details accompanying, it looked like a parade.

Of course it wasn't just Konoha's military that was getting ready. Local businesses and whatnot were also looking forward to the foreign guests, hoping to get more business. And Konoha's main hospital was also getting ready for taking in injured. After all nins were going to get hurt bad during the Finals. Both because of the impending attack and because it was the Finals and nins were gonna want a promotion in rank real bad. Also the hospital was expecting to be taking in drunk and injured from now and after the Finals was over. After all foreign military has a tendency to make an ass of them self while in another countries backyard.

Sarutobi had just gotten out of another Council meeting; it was another headache as usual for the aged warrior leader. The Hokage entered his office and took a seat behind his desk; he then took out his favorite pipe and started to smoke.

"Another stressful day of butting political heads Sensei?" A hidden voice asked.

"I see you are still in the village Jiraiya." Sarutobi said as he took a puff from his pipe.

"We'll your people made it abundantly clear to me that you needed my help old man." Jiraiya said in a somewhat mocking tone but not sounding too offensive.

"They're your people too Jiraiya, I hope you haven't forgotten that. Even though you don't wear Konoha's symbol that doesn't mean you aren't loyal to us anymore." Sarutobi said sternly.

"Whoa, where'd that come from Sensei? I didn't know we were on bad terms all of a sudden." Jiraiya said surprised as he revealed himself from his hidden spot in the office.

"We're not Jiraiya, though you could say that this old man was a little disappointed to not get a heads up that you were back in town, I had to hear it from Gai." Sarutobi said and took another puff.

"Oh come on, you know I always send you coded messages. Besides from what I could tell something was up with Orochimaru's recent activity, especially since you sent me that message to start digging deeper since it seemed my former teammate had pulled the strings on the attempted theft on the "Scroll of Sealing" and the perpetrator had a hoped up super drug."

"Yes it appears that Orochimaru and his love of performing experiments on others is still ongoing and becoming even more horrific. But that isn't the primary concern as of now." Sarutobi said as he leaned back into his chair.

"No it isn't, it's about the attack on Konoha right?" Jiraiya said as he stood by Sarutobi's desk.

"I knew Orochimaru was bitter about what happened so many years ago. But now he wants to destroy the village he once protected, I didn't think he would fall that far down." Sarutobi said with a heavy heart.

"Well you can't blame yourself old man, Orochimaru let his own obsessions and ambitions get the best of him. So I can assume that Council meeting was in regards to the impending attack?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes the council was arguing over what to do. That old War Horse Danzo wanted a preemptive strike launched against Otogakure. Some of the council agreed, they wanted to crush attack at the base of it all." Sarutobi said, his tone pointing out his obvious frustrations.

"I don't know Sensei that sounds like a good idea…" Jiraiya said honestly.

"It does, however this is Orochimaru remember. He is far more cunning than that, he did after all escape me and defeated you all those years ago. Not only that it's obvious this attack has been planned for some time. You don't just all of a sudden decide you're going to gamble everything on an attack against one of the strongest Hidden Villages. If anything Orochimaru planned for such a situation and besides he could just be waiting for something like this to happen? What better way to crush your target than to wait for their forces to take chasing after nothing? And what would are foreign guests think when we basically declare war on someone just days before the Finals. We did establish the Chunnin Exams the way they are now, to avoid wars."

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head. "Well since you put it that way. Good point, though politics have never been my thing, that's why I hated the idea of becoming Hokage."

Sarutobi had a light smile before his face became serious again. "With Orochimaru there are too many possibilities and too much to risk. If intel on Oto wasn't so scarce we'd have a better idea on what to do. But Oto is new and they're keeping rather tight lipped, the only thing we managed to get was what information Tsuchi Kin was able to give us."

"You're talking about that Konoichi that Naruto rescued?" Jiraiya asked.

Sarutobi had a slight chuckle. "Yes Naruto has a knack for bringing kunoichi to his side. Sadly though that's all the solid intel we got. So with all the chances of screwing up and few ways to handle this, I'd rather have an enemy attack us while we have everyone here prepared for a fight as oppose to leaving it to and charging in against an enemy we don't know too well."

"Jeez, there's a reason why you're called the Professor and why you're the Hokage. Just know I'll be around when the shit hits the fan. And besides Sensei, we both have something that needs to be settled with Orochimaru."

XXXXXXXXXX

It was starting to get late and Naruto was making his way to his apartment. The blonde had a hell of a time looking for Haku. It seemed that the hospital was in a complete mess with everyone getting ready for the finals. Everyone had to be somewhere and was always late for something apparently, so of course Naruto had difficulties trying to find Haku. Luckily he did find Rin, who had informed him that Haku was going to head home for the day.

"Man, why the hell didn't I just wait at the hospital until Haku came? Gai didn't have anything planned for me today other than to just say I made progress and I should take these last few days off." Naruto said to himself.

Naruto made his way to the Momichi residents in the apartment. The blonde stood in front of the door to Zabuza and Haku's apartment room. "Well here goes nothing…" Naruto said as he took a deep breath and was about to knock on the door.

"Naruto-kun?" Haku said trying not sound surprised as she had opened the door before Naruto could knock.

"Talk about timing…" Naruto said while cocking an eyebrow.

Haku blushed, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun I was about to take off. We can talk later…" Haku said as she stepped out of her home and locked the door.

"Wait where are you going, maybe I can tag along?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry Naruto-kun I really I have to go…" Haku said Naruto could hear a nervous tone in her voice.

"Haku-chan are you trying to avoid me?" Naruto asked.

"N-no, I-I just need to go a-and sorry about yesterday Naruto-kun…" Haku said as she started hurriedly walked past Naruto.

'Haku's obviously embarrassed about yesterday.' Naruto thought.

"_And she's obviously trying to avoid you because of that." _

"Haku-chan wait…" Haku kept walking faster. "Haku-chan wait…" Naruto said as he grabbed her hand. "…Please…" Naruto said as he looked Haku in the eyes.

"Naruto-kun please, I…" Naruto interrupted Haku.

"Stop blaming yourself and stop feeling bad about yesterday. It all happened on their own Haku-chan. Please listen to me, this is important." Haku calmed down just a little and then she blushed because Naruto was still holding her hand.

"Haku-chan remember when I said that a close friend was all I could be for you?" Naruto asked.

"Yes Naruto-kun…" Haku said shyly.

"I thought about that, and what your father had said. I also thought about what Hinata-chan and Rin-chan said. As well as another close person to me, basically I talked to a lot of people about the problem. Getting second opinions and thoughts, helping me to decide upon what I'm about to say." Naruto said.

"Like I said before I gave my heart to my angel. It belongs to her now and forever…" Haku had a pained look on her face. "But you gave me your heart; obviously it's something I can't give back to you. Because you wouldn't want it back, you want me and only me to have it right?" Naruto said Haku only nodded.

"Then it wouldn't be fair to be given your heart and for me not give something back in return right?"

"Naruto-kun w-what are you saying? What are you trying to tell me?" Haku asked not sure how to feel.

"I can never love any woman the way I love Hinata-chan, she is my angel. But I don't think it would be right to love another woman like I love Hinata-chan, it wouldn't be right to treat you, to love you like Hinata-chan. You need to be loved as who you are." Naruto said with conviction as he gently squeezed Haku's hand.

"P-please Naruto-kun…" Haku was on the verge of tears. "This could make me really happy but don't do this b-because you feel you have to…I don't want y-you to be forcing yourself t-to…" Haku was suddenly pulled into a hug.

"If you're worried that I am doing this so I don't hurt you…well in a way I am doing this because I don't want to hurt you. But maybe I don't want to hurt you because I care about you, not wanting to hurt someone you care for Haku-chan that can be interpreted as love." Naruto said holding Haku tighter.

"N-naruto-kun are y-you saying that you can love m-me?" Haku stuttered.

"I wouldn't be telling you this…getting your hopes up. Unless I'd be willing to say that I can love you. Haku-chan you are too good a woman to be given just an empty relationship, a love that has no love in it. I will be honest, not immediately, it will take some time but I can and will be able to love you Haku-chan. I promise you, I will able to love you, love you the way you are." Naruto said wholeheartedly.

Haku shed a few tears of joy while Naruto held the embrace and pulled his mask down, Haku then felt Naruto kiss her gently on the cheek. "Thank you Naruto-kun, thank you so much for this. I love you, I love you so much." Haku pulled back from the hug and looked into his deep blue eyes; she kissed him on the lips. Although she wanted to, Haku avoided making the kiss anymore intimate. It was obvious Naruto was going to have to get used to kissing Haku on the lips first.

Suddenly Naruto and Haku heard some clapping; they looked in the direction of the sound and saw Zabuza standing in the apartment hallway. He had an eye-smile going on, not exactly a Kakashi eye-smile but his own. No idea how it was possible but it was Zabuza's own eye-smile and that was just creepy.

"Well gaki I can see that you did it. I guess I can start calling you my son-in-law now." Naruto and Haku face faulted.

"_I guess I gotta call him my brother-in-law then…" _Minato said with a thinking pose.

"Not the time dad, not the tiiimmee!!!" Naruto yelled at his father.

Meanwhile

As the day continued to progress another guest of Honor entered Konoha. It was the Yondaime Kazekage, leader of Sunagakure. He was also the father of the Sand Siblings. After being welcomed into the village the Kazekage was given one of the finest rooms in Konoha's most prestigious hotel. As the Kazekage entered his room, his security detail took post making sure beforehand that there wouldn't be anyone spying on them. Inside waiting for the Kazekage was the Suna Jounin Baki, and his genin cell, well at least two out of three of them.

"Kazekage-sama you came a little sooner than expected I…" Baki was cut off.

"My early arrival does not change anything Baki, we still continue with the plan." The Kazekage said as he took a seat.

"I understand Kazekage-sama." Baki said.

"Father…I mean Kazekage-sama, what about Gaara, we haven't seen him as of recently." Temari asked whether she was concerned about her brother or the planned attack was unknown.

"Oh yes that's right, there is however one change. Temari, Kankurou when the attack commences you will be with Baki and his squad. Do not be concerned about Gaara, he will still be needed but as far as his participation in the Chunnin Exams goes, he will not be present."

Everyone in the room immediately had a surprised look on their faces. The Kazekage talked about this like it was nothing but this was significant. Everyone was confused; it seemed that the Kazekage knew about Gaara having been missing since that night.

'How does father know about this? Gaara has been missing since the night after the Preliminaries had ended.' Temari thought as she remembered that night.

Flashback

…the night after the Preliminaries…

"Well then looks like I gotta get my puppets ready for the Finals." Kankurou said as he examined one of his puppets.

"All of you stay here for now; I need to go meet up with an ally." Baki said as he took off.

Gaara was staring out a window staring at the full moon. The Suna Jinchuuriki started to head out of the room. Temari and Kankurou knew he was going out, but they didn't exactly want to say anything.

"G-gaara, you know we were just told to stay here." Kankurou said nervously.

"I don't care; it's a full moon tonight. Kaa-san is getting restless…" Gaara said slightly irritated.

With that said Gaara was out of the room. Neither of the siblings said anything else or tried to stop Gaara. Temari and Kankurou were expecting to hear something about Gaara going on a killing spree the following morning. They didn't hear about anything that might have happened, nor did Gaara even return.

End of Flashback

Since then none of the Suna-nins knew about Gaara's whereabouts. It seemed like he disappeared, no word whatsoever and now apparently the Kazekage knew of Gaara's whereabouts. Temari felt the need to ask about her younger brother. After all even though the sleep deprived nin was a murder-machine, Gaara was still Temari's little brother, she hadn't forgotten that.

"Kazekage-sama, I need to know where Gaara has been this whole time." Temari asked.

"That is none of your concern Temari." The Kazekage said sounding irritated.

"Temari, Gaara's fine, you heard Kazekage-sama." Kankurou said.

"But still, he was gone and we had no idea what happened to him…" Temari was interrupted.

"As I said it is none of your concern or do you want to continue to question your Kazekage, your father?" The Kazekage said with a slightly annoyed tone.

"No Kazekage-sama…" Temari said as she lowered her head.

"Now then remember your parts, when the signal is given rendezvous with Baki and he will have new orders for you. That is all for now, now if you all may I am tired from my trip here leave me." The Kazekage ordered. Everyone left the room.

Before the door closed shut, the Kazekage ordered the guards outside that he did want to be disturbed unless of the utmost importance.

"Kukukuku…everything is going as planned…" The Kazekage said with a voice that wasn't his.

XXXXXXXXXX

As the Sand Siblings made their way out of the room and back to their own, Temari couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

"Kankurou don't you think father's been acting weird?" Temari asked her brother.

"What, are you still concerned about Gaara? Why the sudden interest, I always thought you liked being away from Gaara?" Kankurou asked.

"He's still my little brother Kankurou, and he's yours too or have you forgotten." Temari said defensively also surprised with Kankurou's lack of concern for Gaara.

"Like hell! He hasn't been anything but a nut job killing machine for as long as I can remember. He's no brother of mine. Besides you heard what dad said, it's nothing to worry about, so don't worry about it!" Kankurou yelled as he walked off not bothering to wait for Temari to respond.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Kazekage continued to give a dark chuckle as someone hidden in the room came out. He had white hair and glasses, it was Kabuto.

"Ah Kabuto, so how is our little test subject? Will he be ready for the invasion?" The Kazekage asked with a snake like hiss in his voice.

"The subject will be ready soon enough. He'll cause plenty of damage to Konoha once he's ready." Kabuto said.

"Good, and to I think I was getting a little bit worried when little Naruto-kun had beaten Gaara."

XXXXXXXXXX

It was now the night before the Finals. And it seemed everyone was in a celebratory mood. The streets were packed with villagers and foreigners alike. After the whole little conversation between Naruto and Haku, it was official that Naruto was in two relationships, of course news of it was kept as low key as possible. At the moment the only ones outside of the relationship who knew was, Zabuza and Rin.

The following day Haku and Naruto had gone to visit Hinata. They told Hinata about what happened. Naruto for one reason another partly expected something bad to happen. Hinata however reminded Naruto of what she said. It seemed all three persons in this split relationship was alright with everything. If anything it seemed that Hinata and Haku were getting along now, not that they weren't getting along but they were on a more friendly status, acted almost like they were sisters now.

At this moment Naruto decided he was going to get some ramen at Ichiraku's and if anything he was going to need to talk to Ayame about her feelings for him. Not that Naruto had anything planned or if he was going to do what did he for Haku to Ayame. He just needed to hear what Ayame herself had to say before he decided to do anything drastic.

"Hey old man, been a while huh?" Naruto said as he greeted Mr. Ichiraku.

"Naruto? Oh I haven't seen you a while and I didn't recognize you dressed casual." The chef said as he saw that Naruto was dressed casually in jeans, white dress shirt, and a black jacket.

"I've been training hard old man, I was told to take the last few days before the Finals off. So I figured I'd wear something besides my ninja outfit." Naruto said as he took a seat.

"Well it's been a while since I've seen you without the mask on. Anyway you should now that Ay…"

"Naruto-kun!" Ayame yelled as she came out from the back and enveloped Naruto into a hug.

"…Ayame has been missing you." Teuchi finished.

"Hi Ayame-chan…" Naruto said his voice was muffled in the hug.

"Sorry about that Naruto-kun, I haven't seen you in such a long time. Where were you? You had me worried." Ayame pouted.

"Well I was busy training; I had to get ready for the finals. I also had to visit Hinata at the hospital a lot." Naruto said with a slight blush.

"I heard about that, she's alright isn't she?" Ayame asked honestly concerned.

"Yeah she's doing fine; she'll be discharged early tomorrow to watch my match." Naruto said excitedly.

"That's good to hear Naruto-kun. I heard you will be going up against Hinata's cousin." Ayame said while Teuchi went to prepare some noodles.

"Yup and I'm going to kick his ass for what he did to Hinata-chan. I made vow on that." Naruto said with determination.

'Naruto-kun you don't know just how much of romantic you are.' Ayame thought with a blush.

"So I guess you and Hinata have gotten closer huh?" Ayame asked.

"Well yeah I guess you can say that." Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his head.

"So does that mean she's your girlfriend now?" Teuchi suddenly asked as he handed Naruto a bowl of ramen.

"Otou-san!" Ayame yelled at her father's rudeness.

Naruto was about to say something until he noticed his ramen bowl was much larger than his usual order. It was also packed full of different kinds of meats and vegetables, it looked like a special order he had never seen before.

"This isn't my usual old man." Naruto said surprised.

"That's cause it's a special, not something on the menu. I call it the "Uzumaki Special." And it's on the house." Teuchi said.

"Really?!" Naruto asked.

"It's Otou-san's way of saying good luck and thanks for being such a good customer. And here's mine…" Ayame said as she kissed Naruto on the cheek, Naruto of course blushed and humbly thanked them.

As Naruto dug into his special, someone had snuck up behind Naruto. Before Naruto knew it he had another kiss on his cheek. It was Haku and she was dressed in her usual pink sleeveless kimono.

"Good evening Naruto-kun." Haku said with a small blush on her cheek as she sat next Naruto.

Ayame had a shocked look on her face. "A-ano, Naruto-kun, you and Haku have gotten pretty friendly now huh?" Ayame asked nervously.

'Don't tell me they're together now, are they?!' Ayame thought frantically.

"Of course we've gotten close, I love him." Haku said happily with a blush still on her face.

Ayame had a shocked and defeated expression on her face. "She still doesn't know Haku-chan." Naruto whispered.

Haku gasped in surprise. "Oh my…I'm so sorry Naruto-kun."

"Don't worry about it." Naruto kissed Haku on the cheek.

"So then y-you two are in an r-relationship?" Ayame asked hesitantly.

"It's alright Ayame-san, I'm not the first. Naruto actually declared his love to Hinata before we got together." Haku said.

"W-wh-what?! Naruto-kun are you cheating on Hinata-chan o-or…" Ayame had another shocked look on her face. "Y-you and Hinata broke up?"

Naruto had a nervous look on his face. "No, that's not it I'm with and still am with Hinata-chan but I'm also with Haku-chan as well. They both know about this because they wanted this." Naruto said hesitantly. "I wanted to talk to you about that Ayame; I also know you have strong feelings for me." Naruto added.

Ayame once more had a shocked expression, and it seemed to have stuck on her. She almost seemed unmoving. Naruto, Haku, and Teuchi stared at her. Naruto started to wave his hand around in front of Ayame. He also started snapping his finger and whistled trying to get Ayame back down to earth.

"Gaki what did you do to my daughter?" Teuchi asked in a threatening manner.

Suddenly Ayame came back together. "NO WAY!! How can you be shared?! I was given that suggestion first! Why am I not with you?!" Naruto reeled back with a nervous smile.

'At least she isn't mad at me, but then again. I need to kick the crap out of Kakashi later.' Naruto thought.

Suddenly Ayame grabbed Naruto with both her hands on Naruto's cheeks. "Strong feelings?! Naruto-kun I practically love you, now here's real good luck kiss." Ayame said as she crushed her lips onto Naruto's lips. Teuchi was slack jawed with limp arms and a full on shocked expression written on his face.

**AN: **_And that is the end of that chapter. Sorry it took so long and sorry if it was rushed and under developed. I wanted to get everything out of the way and make the next chapter would be right in the Chunnin Exam Finals. Lol, I apologize if I used some line and words over and over again like "love." Haha also some parts were a bit cheezy and over fluffed sorry about that also. Anyway I'll try to get another chapter done sooner but who knows. Going through my past chapters can take a while. Anyway I hope you guys at least enjoyed reading this. Peace I'm out! _


	20. On the way there

**AN PLEASE READ: **_SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! SORRY! I can't say that enough to all of you who have been waiting so patiently for a new chapter. I'm sorry I keep pulling the same excuses with you guys. But I got so much stuff going on in life right now. But I promise this summer you will all see updates and maybe new stories. RIGHT NOW I also apologize for how this chapter came out. There was a lot more to this but I seem to have the worse luck out there with losing files on my comp. Don't even ask how it happens but I lost the original file…again…and considering I have 2 weeks training in Camp Pendleton coming up, I didn't want to go a whole year without updating SA. So this chapter I say right now doesn't much of anything other than fluff. And I don't think I pulled that stuff off too well anyway cause I ended up rushing myself when I saw what was in store for me on the calendar. When I get back from my 2 weeks training, I am gonna work my ass off to get you guys the next chapter for SA out. Which will hopefully if I pull it off right will have a good fight in there. But yeah in my opinion this is one of my rushed and poorly prepared chapters done for SA and for that I am sorry again ever body. _

_Now than before we get started with one of my shortest chapters released after a hiatus, I need to take the time rant about someone that has really pissed me off beyond belief. How pissed off could I be with this person you ask? Well it's been over a year since I closed off communications with this ass by blocking them, but every time I think about the bullshit I had to deal with from him or her, well to quote one of my fav Super Heroes "__**HULK SMASH!"**_

**START OF VERY ANGRY RANT AND FUCK YOU MESSAGE TO ASSHOLE**

_I don't normally do this kind of thing, esp since my grievances with this person happened well over a year ago but this person really got to me. Personally I'm not that big of an asshole or douche or do I even want to be. But the member "Kael Hyun" can __**fucking get lobotomized! **__His or her little Naru Saku(I'm not even gonna have their names together) ass can burn in hell for all I fucking care. This really isn't going to do much but I fucking condemn this asshole from ever reading Shinku Arashi or Venom Kunoichi ever again. Why am I so pissed off at this person? Well let me post a review or two from Kael Hyun over the course of the time that I started SA and began updating the story through and through. _

_In my chapter 9(chapter 8 in the story heading) Kael Hyun left this review_

Sakura should join the Harem I mean Weather you like it or not Naruto is better for her then Sasuke and Sasuke dosent deserve anyone he is teh Emo-ness

_And then here the frustration grows with review for chapter 11(10 in the heading)_

I know you arnt planing on haveing Sakura in the harem but realy it would make sence if she was (#ell NaruSaku is prity much canon right now) so realy I dont see why you wont have Sakura in it Becuse realy Even if he says hes over her Your first love never realy dies

_But I really shouldn't get that worked up, after all it's the PM I got from Kael Hyun that made me want to do this very angry AN_

I was reading your profile and, You have it all wrong about Sakura's feelings tword Naruto. Sakura has been secritly crushing on Naruto sence near the begining of the manga, the signs are there you just have to look for them(Ie; the blushes she gives whenever she saw him do something that suprised her). She's gotten so good at hideing it she dosent realize it, that's what Yamato was going to tell her, that she loves Naruto.

Now about Hinata saying "I love you" and it being the first time he's heard it true its the first time he's heard it ON PANEL. That dosent mean the Third Hokage or anyone else has never said it to him. Remember, Assumeing makes and Ass out of you and me.

_Alright Kael Hyun you two bit piece of fucking shit. Maybe it's because I didn't make it clear enough to you god fucking dammit! Maybe I was trying too hard to be decently patient with you. But this is what you get when I give a millimeter and you decide to go for more. I don't and will never fucking write Naru_X_X_Saku. And I am the fucking author of this series, just like how every other asshole out there will do whatever the fuck they want with whatever godforsaken "ship" they're sailing with. I will do the fucking same motherfucker. And I will fucking bash Suckra if I fucking want and you can't do jack fucking shit about it you fucking shitbag. I want to hear or read whatever crackpot drug induced delusional bullshit you have to give me. So don't fucking to goddamn force feed me this vile puss. __**FUCK OFF! IS THAT CLEAR ENOUGH FOR YOU? ARE YOU FUCKING TRACKING ME MOTHERFUCKER? DON'T EVER READ MY WORK AGAIN. **__I don't even see what's in it for you, you fucking turd. I have no Naru_X_X_Saku bullshit for you. __**GO FIND SOME OTHER MOTHERFUCKER TO WRITE YOUR CRACKPOT FECES. BECAUSE I HAVE NOT AND NEVER WILL WRITE YOUR FUCKING DELUSIONAL CRAP. **_

**END OF RANT AND FUCK YOU MESSAGE**

_Now that I've gotten that out of my system we can get back to our original programming Ladies and Gents. _

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'talk': Thought

"_Talk": _Minato, Toads

Chapter 19: On the way there

After Ayame's surprise reaction and her "real" good luck kiss. Naruto had to dodge a meat clever being thrown at him. It wasn't necessarily a subtle reaction, especially since it was Ayame doing the kissing. It seemed every father acted that way when their daughter kisses a boy.

At that point, Naruto knew there was no room for conversation or argument…or reasoning for that matter. Ayame wanted to be with him end of story. It seemed also that despite a clever being hurled at him by Teuchi, the old chef seemed to have somehow followed suit with Minato and Zubuza, and started to bring up the subject of marriage, kids, and in-laws. It was basically a frustrating and headache filled evening for the blonde, despite it being his break before the Finals.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning Naruto got up and out of his bed ready for the day's events. Naruto decided he was going to take a shower, while washing off a knock on the door prompted the blonde nin to jump out of the bathroom with just a towel on.

"Coming, one moment please!" Naruto yelled out as he dashed to the door.

"Yes! Who is it?" Naruto opened the door to find Haku standing at the doorstep.

"G-good m-morning…N-naruto-kun…" Haku said somewhat audibly. She was dressed in her Hunter-nin outfit, her hitai-ate was the Konoha band. It seemed that her legs were a little wobbly and she was blushing in the face.

'Don't faint, don't faint, don't faint, don't faint, don't faint!' Naruto thought desperately as he knew it wouldn't end well if Haku fainted.

"I-I came to make b-breakfast this m-morning f-for you N-naruto-kun…" Haku stuttered. It looked like Haku wasn't going to faint now.

"O-oh, okay then Haku-chan, you really didn't need too." Naruto said with a nervous smile.

"I-I insist N-Naruto-kun…" Haku stuttered.

"O-okay then, just come in and I'll get dressed" Naruto said as he turned around and started to make his way back to the bathroom.

'At least she didn't faint…' Naruto thought.

THUMP!

Naruto heard a loud noise and turned around to see a Haku fainted; she fell right on the floor. _"Spoke too soon son."_

"Crap…she fainted…" Naruto muttered under his breath.

XXXXXXXXXX

After Naruto had put on boxers and pants, he helped Haku up. He had gotten dressed partially because he didn't want Haku to faint again by waking up to see Naruto dressed only in a towel again. Haku still blushed at a shirtless Naruto. After dealing with the mishaps, Naruto had gotten fully dressed while Haku made his breakfast. It was a rather traditional meal consisting of a number of dishes. Whether it was because Naruto could never really make a decent breakfast for himself or Haku somehow made them quite delicious couldn't be told. But Naruto enjoyed the meal and Haku was happy that Naruto liked it.

"Time to get going Haku-chan, thanks for the breakfast." Naruto said as he kissed Haku on the cheek, he was about to rush out the door and tie on his scarf.

"Naruto-kun, wait please!" Haku yelled out.

Naruto stopped in his tracks as Haku walked up to him. "Yes?" Naruto asked.

"A-ayame-chan gave you a good luck kiss yesterday…I-I want to give one also…" Haku said as she closed her eyes and gave Naruto a long and loving kiss on the lips. It wasn't a desperate and pleading kiss like the one she gave back at the hospital but a prolonged kiss on the lips.

"T-thank you Haku-chan…" Naruto said he still wasn't used to it but he was starting to get there. "I-I'll see you at the arena maybe?" Naruto asked.

"Of course Rin-chan cleared my schedule for me to go." Haku smiled.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto was casually walking through the streets of Konoha. The streets were busy as ever, more so than usual. It was a celebratory atmosphere in Konoha, people were anxious for the Finals to start. While others were just anxious for the extra business, it would still be a good few hours before the finals would start and Naruto was just taking the trip in stride.

It's not like Naruto forgot about the seriousness of the today's events. There was going to be a lot of things that would occur. He hadn't forgotten but Naruto would take the moment to enjoy the calm before the storm. The blonde-nin was going to head over to the Team 7 training grounds, both because he was feeling nostalgic and because he was going to meet Hinata there.

"You bratty little snot ball!"

Bam!

Naruto heard someone scream out, it sounded like a little girl who was trying to sound mature, followed by the scream was the sound of a fist impacting someone. Before Naruto knew it he saw an object flying towards him. Naruto on instinct snatched up the flying object which as it turned out was a person.

"Ahhhhh!" The person screamed while flying through the air.

Naruto caught the person by the back of the collar. His right arm jerked back from catching the bullet of a person. It only took a second to register who it was to Naruto who it was he had just caught like a baseball pitched at him.

"Konohamaru?" Naruto asked as he noticed that the child he held by the back of the collar like he was some kind of pup.

"Boss?" Konohamaru asked as he made eye contact with Naruto.

"Why were you just thrown through the air like a shot cannonball?" Naruto asked curiously while still holding Konohamaru by the collar.

"I'm gonna show that bitch who she is messing with when I…!" Konohamaru started yelling.

"Whoa! Language Konohamaru! That's not what you call women." Naruto said with a stern voice.

"Not her! She ain't no woman!" Konohamaru screamed out as he pointed at a girl with long brown hair charging in Naruto's direction like a beast ready for the kill.

Whoever this little lady was, it was apparent she was the one that launched Konohamaru into the air. And she was now coming to deliver more hurt to Konohamaru. Naruto had another curious look; he then extended his left arm. Without even realizing it the young woman was stopped in place as Naruto kept the palm of his left hand pressed forward against the forehead of the girl. Naruto used the advantage of his height and weight to keep the girl from getting any closer, as she lashed and tried to futilely reach Konohamaru.

"You bastard! I'm gonna rip your head off and field goal it!" The girl screamed out loud. Naruto noticed that the girl had pale white eyes similar to Hinata and Neji. He came to the conclusion that the girl was a Hyuuga.

"Oh yeah you freaking bitch we'll see about…" Konohamaru was suddenly stopped in his words.

BAM!

Naruto smashed his head into Konohamaru's noggin while still holding him up and holding back the young Hyuuga girl. "KONOHAMARU! I said watch your language! You don't refer to a young lady like that!" Naruto yelled while holding up a knocked out Konohamaru who had swirls in his eyes.

"Now then, if you don't mind Hyuuga-san. Why are you trying to hurt Konohamaru-kun?" Naruto asked as politely as he could while still holding the feral girl back. Naruto kept in mind that most Hyuuga's had a superiority complex and were generally asses. And Naruto didn't want to get into an argument with a kid.

"Because that bastard stole something important from me!" The little Hyuuga screamed as she leaped into the air to strike Konohamaru, Naruto still holding the little guy by the collar.

Naruto suddenly raised his arm into the air holding Konohamaru well above the young Hyuuga girl just as she jumped. She didn't come anywhere near Konohamaru. The Hyuuga growled angrily and leaped again. Naruto quickly pulled Konohamaru up once more. The Hyuuga girl grunted in frustration and kept trying to reach Konohamaru. And every time Naruto raised his arm and kept Konohamaru out of the Hyuuga's reach.

"Dammit you're gonna let go of him now." The Hyuuga girl suddenly dropped down and delivered a sweep kick. Naruto jumped up while still holding up Konohamaru. The blonde had completely hopped over the attack. The moment Naruto landed on the ground, the girl jumped forward ready to strike Konohamaru. Naruto side-stepped and as the girl flew past him, Naruto smacked the back of her head making her full forward onto the ground.

"Okay enough of that Ojou-chan." Naruto said calmly. Konohamaru by this time had regained consciousness. The young man saw the girl knocked down on her face.

"Hahaha! Never thought I'd see the day the Great Hyuuga Hanabi would be face down on the ground. Take that you…"

"Language!" Naruto shouted making Konohamaru cringe.

"Okay, okay boss, please don't head-butt me again." Konohamaru said nervously.

"Now then…" Naruto said as he let go of Konohamaru unexpectedly, the young man didn't see it coming so he too fell face down on the ground.

"…Konohamaru, little Ms. Hyuuga here says you stole something important from her. I don't what it is but give it back to her." Naruto said.

"_Not being bitter with the Hyuuga-chan, son?" _

"Why would I dad? There are only two Hyuuga's I'm bitter with. One might just be my in-law and the other I'm going to beat the crap out of." Naruto said to his father.

"I don't know what you're talking about Boss. I never stole anything from her…" Konohamaru said confused.

"Don't pretend like you don't know!" The girl now identified as Hanabi yelled out as she was ready to attack again. Konohamaru got ready and was going to charge in.

SMACK!

SMACK!

Naruto with lighting quick speed smacked both Konohamaru and Hanabi in the back of their heads. "Okay cut it out you two."

"But Boss, I didn't do anything wrong. She's just a stuck up…" Konohamaru stopped momentarily to rethink his words as he saw Naruto cracking his knuckles. "…Ass…" Konohamaru said a little hesitantly.

"Better, you'll still need to work on that." Naruto said.

"Now then Hanabi-chan what is it that Konohamaru stole from you?" Naruto asked politely.

"Come on Boss! You can't believe her! I haven't stolen anything. She just thinks she's on top of the world cause she's a Hyuuga and the daughter of Hiashi!" Konohamaru yelled out.

"Oh so you're Hinata-chan's little sister then?" Naruto suddenly asked Hanabi.

"How do you know of my sister?" Hanabi asked somewhat surprised.

"Well, we went to the academy together and I'm her boyfriend." Naruto said happily.

"Oh cool Boss! I knew you were a player!" Konohamaru said out loud, his previous anger forgotten for the moment.

"I'm not..." Naruto said dejectedly.

"So you're the idiot disgrace of a ninja that my sister has fallen for." Hanabi said calmly.

Naruto frowned underneath his mask. "I guessing your cousin Neji or your father called me that." Naruto said.

"Both of them actually." Hanabi said in a matter of fact tone.

"Go figure…" Naruto had a miserable eye expression.

"Now then…" Naruto said as he left the gloom behind. "What was stolen from you?" Naruto asked Hanabi.

It seemed that asking again wasn't too good an idea as it seemed that the atmosphere became thick with anger and hatred once again.

"That bastard stole something from me that can't be given back!" Hanabi screamed out, Hanabi had a slight blush on her angered expression.

'What could be that important?' Naruto thought.

"He stole my first kiss!" Hanabi yelled out in anger and disgust.

Naruto was wide-eyed. And Konohamaru was shocked. "I-I never d-did that!" Konohamaru yelled and pointed his finger at Hanabi.

"You know you did! It was last week when we were having class." Hanabi yelled.

Flashback 

…one week ago…

It was the beginning of another day in the Ninja Academy. Konohamaru and his friends Moegi and Udon were just getting in. As usual Konohamaru was having another conversation about becoming Hokage with Moegi and Udon. A student in the back felt annoyed as usual hearing Konohamaru talk about becoming Hokage. It was Hanabi.

"Yup when the day comes I'll succeed Boss and become the new Hokage!" Konohamaru shouted out.

"Just because you're the Hokage's grandson doesn't mean you're going to get handed the position." Hanabi said in a calm tone laced with mockery.

Konohamaru looked at Hanabi with an annoyed look and a mortified expression, feeling that his declaration was just killed. "Nobody asked for your opinion, besides stop thinking you're so great just cause you're a Hyuuga and the daughter of Hiashi." Konohamaru lashed back.

"That's Hiashi-sama to you. Just because you're the Sandaime's grandson doesn't mean you can be disrespectful to those above you. How's about you try and build a reputation first, instead of just relying on your name." Hanabi said sternly.

A vein popped out of Konohamaru's head. "Oh you're one to talk! Little Ms. Hanabi Hyuuga acting all high mighty cause your daddy's a clan leader and your sister is next in line." Konohamaru snapped back.

Hanabi got up; she still stood behind her desk. "At least I'm doing what I need to, to become stronger and to attain my goals! Instead of just talking and making empty declarations!" Hanabi yelled in anger her ice-cold demeanor broken.

Konohamaru ran up to where Hanabi was and was now standing on top of her desk glaring at her. Hanabi glared back, both of them were locked in a staring contest to the death. Everybody in the class was hoping to see a throw down between the two. Grandson of the Hokage and the daughter of the Hyuuga clan head sounded like a spectacle to see for the youths. That was until Iruka came in, the instructor had an annoyed look on his face as realized what was happening.

"Konohamaru! Get down from there we're starting class now!" Iruka said as he hurled a chalk board eraser at the back of Konohamaru's head.

BAM!

Suddenly Konohamaru started to lose balance, his legs wobbling about. 'I guess I threw it too hard.' Iruka thought as he saw Konohamaru about to fall.

'Oh shit this baka isn't going to fall on me is he?' Hanabi thought as she was about to try and get out of the way.

"Ahhhh!" Konohamaru yelled out as he fell forward.

"Oh shi…" Hanabi said but was cut off.

Everybody looked in amusement and shock as Konohamaru fell on top of Hanabi. Amusement turned to complete shock when everyone saw that Konohamaru was not only on top of Hanabi, but his lips were smack pressed against Hanabi's own lips. Both Konohamaru and Hanabi were staring into each other with shocked eyes. And before anybody could do or say anything, Konohamaru went flying across the classroom.

End of Flashback

"Bwahahahahhahahaha!" Naruto started laughing uncontrollably.

Both Konohamaru and Hanabi had looks on their faces that said "Kill me now." Naruto continued to laugh for a good few minutes. And then he stopped and wiped a tear away from his eyes. Naruto then ruffled both Konohamaru and Hanabi's hair.

"You two are funny as hell, Hanabi-chan, that's how your older sister and I shared our first kiss. Not the arguing and belittling each other part or it leading up to her trying to kill me for a week. But getting knocked down in front of her and landing on top of her. Though I had my mask on so it wasn't a full kiss and this was long before I even thought about being with Hinata." Naruto said in a joyful and humorous manner.

"_And look at how things are now son." _

'Yeah, really not what I was expecting…really wasn't what I was expecting.' Naruto thought.

"So what the hell are you saying then? That I'm going to have that loser be my future boyfriend?" Hanabi yelled in anger, shock, and fear.

"No…" Naruto said as he noticed a hint of blush on Hanabi's face.

'She certainly doesn't act like her sister. But that blush kinda reminds me of Hinata. Oh well that doesn't mean anything, she could just be really pissed off at Konohamaru. Or she might actually have some feelings for him.' Naruto thought.

"Oh it's not that big a deal is it? It was just an accident, don't take it so seriously." Konohamaru yelled out.

BAM!

"Horrible choice in words…" Naruto said as he saw Konohamaru off his feet as Hanabi punched him square in the face.

"_Indeed…"_

XXXXXXXXXX

After a bit of peace talking and keeping those two apart, Naruto at that moment managed to keep those two from killing each other. Or to be more exact keep Hanabi from killing Konohamaru, in all honesty Naruto found the whole thing amusing. But being amused by the whole thing was something that Naruto didn't want to be occupied with for the whole day.

And now the blonde-nin was going to see his angel, the first true love of his life. Naruto smiled under his mask as he saw Hinata waiting patiently for him by the log posts that he and his teammates had found out they passed their test.

Before Hinata could turn around, Naruto quickly and stealthily encircled his arms around Hinata's waist from behind, an eep escaped Hinata's lips. "Gotcha…" Naruto teased as he held Hinata close against himself.

Hinata rested her arms on Naruto's arms and leaned against him. Naruto gently kissed Hinata on the cheek; Hinata could tell that Naruto still had his mask on. She frowned just a little and closed her eyes.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said with a slight pout.

"Hmm…what is it?" Naruto asked happily.

"Don't kiss me with your mask Naruto-kun, that isn't you, if you have your mask on." Hinata said somewhat sternly.

"You're right…" Naruto said in a more serious tone as he pulled his mask down. "You've seen enough of my mask…" Naruto kissed the skin of Hinata's soft neck. A shiver came down Hinata's body.

"What's the matter Tenshi-chan, feeling cold?" Naruto said as he held Hinata closer to him and made the hug tighter.

"No Naruto-kun, I'll never feel cold with you, never again." Hinata said contently as Naruto lightly bit down on Hinata's neck.

"Ugh…Naruto…kun…" Hinata gasped as she felt teeth lightly pinch the skin of her neck.

Naruto grinned and then pulled back. "Sorry Tenshi-chan, just trying something new." Naruto said as he nuzzled Hinata from behind.

"That's alright, but maybe in a more private place next time?" Hinata asked with a blush on her face.

"This is pretty private already but I won't argue." Naruto said with a grin and gave Hinata another peck on the cheek.

They both stood the way they did for a little while longer. Hinata remained in the comfort and calm of Naruto's arms, while Naruto continued to hold his love in his arms. The couple enjoyed the moment while it lasted; when the time came they started making their way to the stadium "hand in hand."

"So I met your little sister today." Naruto said out of the blue.

"You met Hanabi-chan today?" Hinata asked in response.

"Yup, you're little sister was trying to kill Konohamaru." Naruto said with a chuckle.

"W-why?" Hinata stuttered, surprised to hear her little sister trying to kill someone.

"Apparently Konohamaru accidentally stole Hanabi's first kiss." Naruto said with an eye smile.

Hinata had a surprised look on her face and then gasped. "Oh my…"

"What a way to lose your first kiss…makes me glad you received mine." Naruto chuckled a bit. Hinata looked away with a bashful smile. Naruto leaned his head in.

"Come on Tenshi-chan, no need to be shy, I can only assume you wanted your first kiss to be with me right?" Naruto asked coyly.

"N-naruto-kun…" Hinata stuttered just a bit but gave a small giggle. "Of course I wanted my first kiss to be with you."

Naruto smiled but then had a gloomy look on his face. "I wish I could say the same thing Tenshi-chan, but sadly you probably know who I wanted my first kiss to be with."

For a moment the couple stopped walking. They stood in place for a bit while an awkward silence surrounded them. Both were thinking back to a time when the idea of being together and in love was only a dream that was perched above the sky. Naruto remembering how he was so hopelessly captivated with Sakura, nearly convincing himself that his crush on her was love. While Hinata was just the girl in the back stands, always wanting to cheer on and be there for the one she loved so deeply, only to be a silent audience of one.

"_Ahem! Son, say something now unless you want this awkward moment to keep going. For crying out loud it's in the past!"_

"But hey!" Naruto suddenly shouted catching Hinata by surprise. "It didn't happen and things are different now. Sides what would you pick as our first kiss, when I was knocked down in the classroom? Or back at the hospital?" Naruto tried not to look nervous while trying to cheer up Hinata.

Hinata noticed what Naruto was trying to do and decided to smile warmly at her lover. After all despite, past thoughts and feelings, they're together now and it would stay that way, and that was all that mattered.

"M-maybe we can consider both to be our f-first kiss…either way even you had given your first to someone else, I wanted you to have mine no matter what, n-no one else would ever have it." Hinata said as she gave Naruto a kiss on the cheek.

"You're too good to me, I don't deserve you Tenshi-chan." Naruto said happily pulling her into a close embrace.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Konoha Stadium was never livelier than it was now. The stands were packed to the brim with the citizens and ninja of Konoha, foreign dignitaries, businessman and other important figures. Everyone was waiting with anticipation to see the best and brightest of the respective village genins. The stands were set on walls high above the battlegrounds for the arena.

The battlegrounds itself was a sizable plot of land. Big enough that participants in the matches wouldn't be solely restricted to close quarters combat; they had an open arena with plenty of natural cover to take advantage of. In the center of the arena the finalists were standing and waiting with Shiranui Genma, the Tokubetsu Jonin assigned to be referee for the rest of the Chuinn Exams after Hayate's death. The referee stood there with a senbon sticking out of his mouth.

It appeared that most of the competing Genin were present, say for a certain blonde hair nin with whisker marks on his face, the so-called "Last Uchiha" and the younger brother of the Sand Sibling Trio. Some of the present genin expressed some feeling or concern to the latency of the non-present genin.

"Always gotta be the troublesome one eh Naruto?" Shikamaru asked quietly looking a little disgruntled.

Neji managed to hear what Shikamaru quietly muttered and decided to add his two cents. "He's nothing more than talk; he's not going to back his vow. You can't expect much from the lover of a failure."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes with annoyance. 'Naruto you damn troublesome blonde, you spent how many years screaming in everyone's ears you're gonna be Hokage and now here you are late to one of the many things you need to do to become a Kage. Jeez you better show up and kick this bastards ass…he's so damn annoying.'

While Shikamaru had to bear with Neji, Temari was deep in thought. She was concerned about her younger brother Gaara. She hadn't seen him since the preliminaries back at the Forest of Death; it didn't help either when her father had told her and Kankuro not to be worried about Gaara or his participation in the Finals. The back of Temari's head was giving her all sorts of signals that something was wrong, very wrong. Hell the whole idea of invading Konoha with Oto was already setting off her danger signs.

'Gaara wherever you are be safe…' Temari thought to herself.

"Uzumaki Naruto! Please come down to the arena floor or you will be disqualified and your match forfeited!" Genma yelled out while gritting his senbon in between his teeth.

XXXXXXXXXX

In the stands everyone who knew Naruto were looking rather worried as well. Some felt there must have been something wrong for Naruto not to show up yet, especially since he was nearing a possible forfeit. Kurenai herself was wondering where Hinata could be, since she was told by the young Hyuuga heiress she would be coming with Naruto to the Stadium.

'Where could you be Hinata? And where's Naruto?' Kurenai thought starting to get worried about the couple.

Almost as if it was perfect timing, Hinata stepped into the audience floor and was making her way towards Kurenai. The Jounin-sensei gave off a sigh of relief seeing her genin arrive without appearing to have been harmed. Hinata however did have a very noticeable blush and surprisingly a rather giddy smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

Just as Genma was about to declare Neji the winner by default, Naruto stepped into the arena. Some of the people that knew Naruto were half expecting the blonde-nin to come in a loud and eccentric manner. Instead Naruto was walking in with a happier than usual eye smile and if one looked close enough could see some red creeping up from Naruto's mask.

"Uzumaki Naruto…" Genma gave Naruto a mild glare. "You're late."

"Had second thoughts about running away from a loss?" Neji asked with a small smirk.

"Nope not at all…" Naruto said with a rather mellow tone, he then started to rub the back of his own head.

"Let's just say I had to get the blessing of an Angel." Naruto said with a very happy eye smile, he then took a quick glance at the stands knowing where Hinata would be.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hinata where we're you and Naruto at the whole time, he was almost late to his own match. What happened?" Kurenai asked with some level of concern.

Hinata suddenly blushed deeply and had a bashful smile on her lips; she then pressed her finger tips together.

"A-ano…I w-wanted to wish Naruto-kun good luck…"

Flashback  
…Moments before Naruto's match…

Naruto and Hinata entered the stadium halls. Moments ago these halls were packed to the brim with people and ninja alike trying to get to their seats. The overabundance of life had already moved on leaving the halls empty and quiet. Hinata was going to walk with Naruto the entrance area to the bottom floor arena hand in hand.

"Naruto-kun c-can you take off y-your mask?" Hinata asked suddenly while still holding Naruto's hand.

Naruto blinked for a moment being caught by surprise. "Sure thing Tenshi-chan." Naruto used his free hand to move his scarf down to unmask his whole face.

"Good luck my love…" Hinata said without hesitation as she wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and pressed her lips against Naruto's lips. She closed her eyes and Naruto followed suit as they both leaned in to deepen the kiss.

It was only moments before their tongues danced along each other eliciting soft moans. Naruto wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist and pulled her closer against himself. Even though there was match to attend the couple didn't even think of breaking the kiss yet. Maybe it was the spur of the moment; maybe it was the situation and the things to come, or even the things that had happened previously all the challenges and complications that had all led to this. Either way the kiss that the young lovers shared was more passionate and more loving than ever.

Despite the very obvious time limit that Naruto had to show up for his match with Neji, neither partner wanted to break this kiss. They both held on tighter to each other. For that moment there was no halls, no stadium or an impending conflict, there was only Naruto and Hinata in the moment.

"…Please be seated, the main event shall begin soon. All Finalists please report to the arena floor…"

The announcer on the speakers around the Konoha Stadium snapped Naruto and Hinata out of it. They broke the kiss but Naruto still held Hinata, while Hinata herself had a very dark blush and very bashful smile.

"I love you Naruto-kun, do your best and g-good luck." Hinata said as she rested her head against the crook of Naruto's neck.

Naruto held a wide grin and chuckled. "No need for luck Tenshi-chan, I'll win no matter what." Naruto breathed with calm confidence.

Hinata snapped her head back ready to apologize to Naruto, afraid that her lover may have misinterpreted what she meant. Though it seemed that Naruto was a step ahead of her and placed a finger on Hinata's soft lips quieting her.

"Just because I don't need the luck doesn't mean I don't want it. A kiss from my Angel is a blessing in itself. It's like Kami watching over me." Naruto grinned.

"Watch me Hinata; watch me my love, my Angel. I'll show them what a dead last loser can do."

Hinata hugged Naruto tightly pressing her face against his chest. "I will watch you Naruto-kun; I will be with you and be there for you. This is what I wanted, what I have always wanted. I know you can show them that you are more than what they see." Hinata kissed Naruto lightly on the lips and gave a serene smile.

Naruto caressed Hinata's left cheek and suddenly had a mischievous smile. "So…we got a few minutes to kill, I don't mind the idea of being marginally late, wanna give me another blessing Tenshi-chan?"

End of Flashback

"W-we had kind of g-gotten carried away K-kurenai-sensei." Hinata said while still pressing her fingers together. Kurenai gave a warm smile and patted Hinata's shoulder.

"It's okay Hinata-chan; it's expected from a young woman deeply in love. Now come on we should get seated, the match is going to start soon."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Delusional as ever I see. Today is the day someone finally showed you the reality of things." Neji boasted as he readied himself for the match.

"Funny thing I was about to say the same thing to you. I'm going to show you that no one is bound to fate, that we make our own destiny. And I'll start this by beating the crap out of you."

**AN: **_Once again I am so sorry for making you all wait this long and more so making you stop at this point in the story. Like I said I promised you all more updates this summer. I will do what I can to have more SA chapters up when I get back from my 2 weeks training coming up. Forgive me please T_T Oh and once again __**FUCK OFF KAEL HYUN!**_


	21. Finals

**AN: **_So my promises to have updates out during the summer were pretty much shot to shit. And for that I once again I apologize. That seems to be the only thing I know how to do cause typing a story fast and efficiently obviously isn't something I know how to do. Same thing for keeping promises T_T_

_Anyway enjoy the chapter people, I hope this doesn't disappoint._

_Oh and btw, Habu2010. For being a punk wise ass with your last review. Fuck you piss off and you're blocked now._

_**TALK: **_Biju demon form

_**Talk: **_Biju human form

'talk': Thought

"_Talk": _Minato, Toads

Chapter 20: Finals

"Fate has already determined the outcome of this day Uzumaki, you will lose."

Naruto chuckled at the proclamation.

"You're a broken record you know that? Seriously what Ten-san sees in you and how you can possibly tone your ego down enough to actually get involved with a woman is so far beyond me."

XXXXXXXXXX

At this moment everyone who knew Tenten that was next to her in the stands all cast a curious or suspecting eye. The panda-haired girl did her best Hinata impression and blushed crimson.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I won't repeat my reasons that I have previously stated to you Uzumaki." Neji responded rather quickly trying not to sound upset.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "Saying that cause you want to sound like a badass? Or are you saying that because you don't want Ten-san to hear exactly what you said last time about her and the reason for being with her?"

Neji's eyebrow twitched and Naruto smiled underneath his mask. The match hadn't even started and he was already striking a cord. However the crowd was getting anxious and wanted to see a good match already, not a verbal brawl.

"I know what you're trying to do Uzumaki and it will not work." Neji said with a smirk.

"Oh are you implying I'm trying to get you mad? No I'm just asking a question is all. Though if I really want to piss you off I'll just put your ass in the ground and make you look like a novice in front of everyone." Naruto spoke with a vicious grin underneath his mask.

"Enough! It's time you were humbled and shown to watch your tongue around your better." Neji snapped for just a moment, his agitation ever increasing now.

"All you had to do was say please." Naruto responded with a bow and immediately started stretching his arms out.

Neji dropped into his Jyuuken fighting stance with an open palm pointed at Naruto.

"Nothing you've done will help you in this match against me. I know what you're capable of and I am ready for it." Neji smirked confidently.

Some people in the audience saw this as the cue for Naruto to start to feel the pressure of his opponent, to feel his confidence get zapped or at least faded, hell some were hoping for Naruto to panic. Instead the blonde broke out laughing.

"Bwahahahahahahaha!"

"You know what I'm capable of?" Naruto quoted with a bark of laughter as he took off his Bo staff and planted it into the ground.

"You don't know jack, hell you don't know the first thing about me and what I'm capable of? Ha! I can count the number of people who know what I'm actually capable of on one hand." Then Naruto paused, looking thoughtful, "I must be getting old, every time I turn around I'm lecturing someone and now I've got to beat some sense into you like I'm you… meh I'll just kick the crap out of you and be done with it. And just so that no one can go whining about me having an unfair advantage or some shit…" he said, taking a step away from his planted Bo.

"No bojutsu…" Naruto took another step unhooking and dropping his kunai holster. "No Kage Bunshin…" Now he was standing right in front of Neji.

"…No tricks, just you and me."

XXXXXXXXXX

In a different section of the stadium Hiashi and his youngest daughter Hanabi watched the two Shinobi verbally lash at each other. Hanabi found some amusement and confusion by the way the two acted. Hiashi only looked irritated.

'That Uzumaki, spewing such things from his mouth once again, I have no doubt in my mind Neji will display the true strength of the Hyuugas.' Hiashi thought.

"Hanabi watch carefully and you will see your cousins strength, the clan's strength crush this loud mouthed buffoon."

'Father really doesn't like Nee-san's boyfriend, figures.' Hanabi thought after hearing her father.

XXXXXXXXXX

It seemed the anticipation was starting to build into impatience. Quite a few in the crowd couldn't wait to see the village pariah beaten down by a Hyuuga. Others just wanted a good match. Those who wanted Naruto to win were few but not absent. Hinata and Kurenai got seated with the rest of the Rookie 9. Coincidentally at about the same time Gai showed up with Lee who was in crutches.

"Ah my youthful student it seems we have made it in time to see the match." Gai said happily.

"I apologize for being such a deadweight for you Gai-sensei. For my punishment I will run around Konoha 300 times when I am able to do so!" Lee yelled out in the crowd getting those in the audience's attention.

"Ah my youthful student I will just have to hold you to that!" Gai said as he flashed his signature grin and gave a thumb up.

'Idiots…' Everybody nearby thought at the same time as they tried to focus on what was going on in the center of the arena and not on the bowl cut Nin.

Moments after Gai and Lee's arrival Haku showed up in her favored pink sleeveless kimono and behind her coming up the stairs were Rin.

"Looks we made it just in time Haku-chan and it looks like Kakashi as usual is late…" Rin sighed as she saw that Kakashi was nowhere to be found.

"Rin-chan over here!" Kurenai signaled Rin and Haku over to where she was sitting with Hinata; there was some empty space, enough for both women to sit down.

"Looks like you made it in time Rin. You were almost late; could your boyfriend's bad habits be rubbing off on you?" Kurenai teased.

"Nai-chan, don't say something like that, that is such a scary thought!" Rin said with a mock shiver. Haku and Hinata giggled at Rin's statement.

"So it looks like they're about to start now, I wonder how Naruto will do…" Rin looked around to see Gai seated not too far away from her.

"…So Gai, any idea how this is match is gonna go? Neji is your student and you trained Naruto for the last month."

Gai smiled and held his own chin in between his index finger and thumb of his right hand. "Yes as a matter of fact I did train those two youthful warriors, more so one over the other." Gai's face took a more serious expression.

"Naruto-kun is going to be in for a challenge that is certain. Neji is a skilled Jyuuken specialist and that in itself already spells out the kind of damage that can be dealt here. I'm afraid there was only so much I could teach Naruto-kun in a month despite his endless pool of stamina, his determination and stubbornness. It may not have been enough; I explained that to Naruto-kun when we first started training and also brought up to his attention that I could not render vital information about Neji to him either." Gai said as he gazed down to his student.

Those of the Rookie 9 felt surprised at hearing this, even knowing that Naruto wouldn't be able to master everything that Gai could teach him, the spandex clad Taijutsu specialist didn't give any important information on Naruto's opponent. However among the group, Hinata and Haku did not feel any shock. More so Hinata, she believed in Naruto, she always had. Now was no different she had every bit of faith in her lover.

"Well that's good Gai-sensei. Honestly I was about to call you a traitor to your own student." Tenten said bluntly. "I already know that Naruto isn't going to stand a chance." Tenten said openly despite Hinata and Haku's threatening stares. She merely followed suit and gave a confident smirk. Gai pretended not to hear or see what just happened and continued.

"Despite how his recent behavior has been, Neji is still my student. And although I have nothing against Naruto-kun, I cannot give any sort of information away that would set my own student up for failure. But despite what you might assume from what I am saying, this does not mean Naruto will lose this match. It is not like what he has learned will yield no benefit. Whoever will win is yet to be determined."

XXXXXXXXXX

"I told you before I know about your training with my Sensei. And as I've said it will not make a difference. Gai-sensei is after all…my sensei and I have on many occasions fought his star Pupil." Neji smirked as he dropped into his signature stance, open palm forward.

"Still so sure of yourself aren't you? Well last I checked you looked quite surprised when Lee-san busted out the Big Guns against Gaara. Sides here is a bit of information for you…" Naruto took a stance, closed fist forward, his wrist parallel to Neji's forward arm's wrist.

"No weights on my body…" Naruto eye smiled at Neji. "Before you say anything I'm telling you this because I'm not a copy cat nor am I clone of Gai-san or Lee-san after my one month of training with Gai-sensei."

"No matter to me, it's all irrelevant." Neji said agitatedly.

"Ehmm, if you two don't mind. Crowds getting restless, can we start?" Genma said while chewing his senbon.

Both shinobi glanced at Genma and nodded. For Genma it felt like the temperature dropped by a few degrees rather quickly. 'Jeez those two really wanted to keep up that verbal berating that bad?'

"Alright! Match 1, Uzumaki Naruto versus Hyuuga Neji…Begin!"

Naruto and Neji stared at each other and held their stances for a few moments longer. Naruto grinned under his mask. For just a fleeting moment scenes of Neji's relentless assault against Hinata during the Preliminaries flashed through his mind. It angered him to no end. Naruto understood now that Hinata never wronged him, she loved him with every fiber of her being. She loved him first and he almost took that away from him.

"_Remember what he did Naruto, do not let that go. It is only understandable that one would be mad. But don't let that anger control you. Control your anger and use it like a weapon. Like tensing your muscles on impact of your strike, release your anger in controlled bursts. Show him that your fists and feet will be the ones expressing your true anger, your feelings, and your will."_

BAM!

Stepping forward and striking with his right fist in a fast and fluid motion. Naruto's fist struck the right side of Neji's forehead, just above his right eye. The speed and force of the impact snapped Neji's head back, forcing Neji's stance to break for just a second. There were those in the crowd that gasped at the sight before them. Naruto got in the first strike on Neji. Others however simply thought that it was just a lucky hit.

Neji recovered and shook off the blow to the head rather quickly. He only gritted his teeth for a moment and assumed his fighting stance once more. While Naruto followed suit. They were once more wrist to wrist. Neji wasn't going to let this quick strike to the head go without returning the favor and showing that he could be just as fast. No words were exchanged, both opponents focused on one another.

"Hiya!" Naruto shouted moving just a little faster than he did earlier, repeating the same step and strike movement.

BAM!

Neji's head snapped back harder this time, the additional speed and quickness to the second strike proved to make the force of impact greater than before. Not only was Neji's stance broken again, he stumbled a step back.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Hell yeah!" Someone in the crowd above actually shouted in excitement and even a few clapped.

The reaction from the crowd was more excited. Naruto had landed a second blow and had merely sped up what he had done earlier. Those of the Rookie 9 were in awe especially. Hiashi was starting to feel some anger, feeling that his clan was now being embarrassed in front of the whole village.

XXXXXXXXXX

Once more no words were spoken. But Naruto did let out an audible exhale and kicked up his legs for a moment to stretch just a bit more. It was as if he was warming up again. Naruto and Neji once more assumed their respective stances. Neji bared a strong look of determination and focus. He wasn't going to let it happen a third time. He knew Naruto would attempt to strike fast once more. He would be ready to counter and retaliate in kind.

"Ready for it this time Neji?" Naruto asked in a calm voice. "Because here it comes…"

Naruto struck low, Neji quickly blocked. The blonde retracted his forward right arm and went higher for the chest. Neji did not hesitate as he blocked the second higher strike. At the moment of contact Naruto had not tense up his muscles, the second strike wasn't meant to hit but to distract. Naruto whipped his right fist back just a split second and sent out a third strike. Naruto was now close enough and moving fast enough that Neji could not react to the next attack.

BAM!

Neji stumbled back further once more he was struck in the head. With greater force and speed, Naruto sent the Hyuuga back. Nobody was expecting Naruto to be successive in a third direct hit. More in the crowd gasped and even more started to cheer in excitement. This time the Hyuuga Prodigy noticeably gritted his teeth. He then noticed something about the area of his head where he was struck.

XXXXXXXXXX

"He's bleeding…" Hinata and Haku said at the same time.

Those sitting around the two women took closer look and saw small drips of crimson were coming out of a gash just above Neji's right eye.

"To state the obvious my youthful compatriots, Naruto-kun has struck the same area of Neji's head three times in a row." Gai said observantly.

"Quite impressive, developing his "twitch muscles" was well worth the training."

"Twitch muscles?" Kiba asked.

"Well to be more specific fast twitch fibers, they contract quickly and powerfully but fatigue very fast. Which is why Naruto-kun's weights focused on those areas more, I knew there wouldn't be enough time to develop Naruto-kun's muscles the same way Lee's were developed. So instead of working on his overall strength and speed, we worked on his body's ability to react and the time it takes to react. In manner of speaking it's not that Naruto is physically that much faster than Neji. It's that his body is responding faster."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Looks like I drew first blood." Naruto stated calmly.

"You'll soon follow…" Neji wiped the blood away from his head.

"Byakugan!"

Neji activated his eyes, the veins around his eyes bulged out, his pupils were visible now.

"Well let's go! Come on!" Naruto shouted as he started hoping on his feet like a professional boxer with his right fist forward and pointed towards the charging Hyuuga.

With hands glowing brightly with chakra, Neji would strike with lethal intent. An open palm came at Naruto.

The blonde snapped to. His right fist launched forward and met with and stopped Neji's attack. Naruto wasn't blocking he met strike with strike. His fist struck Neji's arm making sure not to make contact with the radiating chakra from Neji's palm. The whole time Naruto was hoping back drawing Neji back and towards him.

Neji's right palm strike was stopped; he immediately followed up with his left hand sending another open palm.

With precision reaction Naruto moved back, still maintaining his hop. Naruto put enough distance to force Neji's second attack to travel further. It was muscle memory for Naruto, right fist retracted, left fist deployed. Naruto intercepted blow with blow. Neji's stance had an opening, a small and short opening. And Naruto would exploit it.

"Waataah!" Naruto screamed.

Naruto's right fist led the assault, straight through the small opening in Neji's stance. He knew where to hit and the blood that stained his gloves proved it.

"Hiiiyaaa!"

Immediately following impact, Naruto retracted and sent his left fist out for a two-hit combo. Neji closed his right eye in pain, the same spot on his forehead that was already hit, now took a fourth and fifth blow. Neji was pushed back by the two hits; Naruto kicked with his left leg, the metal sole of his geta crashed right into Neji's face, the tip of the attack was directly focused on his opponents open wound.

"Wataah!"

Naruto let out another cry as his left foot retracted; planting it back to ground he pivoted on the foot and spun around unleashing his right foot on Neji.

He stayed on his feet but that didn't mean he wasn't disorientated, Neji stumbled back and was losing balance. He had his right eye closed, the drips of blood that had come out of the gash over his eye had now become a steady stream of blood and that blood was now in his right eye. It was making it very hard to keep that eye open.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Impressive defense…" Gai commented.

"What "defense?" All I see him doing is throwing punches and kicks." Kiba barked at Gai.

"This is only my assumptions for now; I'll need to observe some more before I have more to say." Gai said contently.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Not bad Naruto-kun." Sarutobi said as he took a puff from his favored pipe.

"This is getting very interesting."

XXXXXXXXXX

'Damn my eye is bothering me now…this blood just won't stop…' Neji thought as he wiped away more blood from his forehead.

"What's a matter Neji? No pain, no gain." Naruto gestured with his right hand to come forward before he closed his fist and resumed his fighting stance.

Neji stood back up in response, despite the slow growing disorientation from the open head wound. The Hyuuga Prodigy reassumed his stance. He wasn't going to show any weakness or vulnerability in front of the village and the other nations watching.

The young fighters made eye contact for only a brief moment before they dashed right at each other. No words were exchanged, just the sound of battle cries. They both struck, attack met with attack. Neji made multiple attempts to strike Naruto's tenketsu. But just as before, Neji's attacks were met with equal force or greater force. Every finger jab or open palm was immediately stopped by Naruto's fists. Any kick was stopped with a fast and fierce kick of his own. Naruto was meeting force with force.

The blonde wasn't letting up at all against Neji. He was on the offensive against himconstantly. He wasn't giving the Hyuuga any opening at all with his attacks. This forced Neji to attack without any real opening to exploit. And when he struck, Naruto reacted with his own strike to halt Neji. Naruto was forcing Neji to fight back on his terms.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Impressive…" Gai said with his eyes still focused on the exchange of punches and finger jabs between Naruto and Neji.

"As the saying goes ladies and gentlemen, "The best defense is a good offense." Gai said wisely. Gai's speech caught the attention of the ninja around him.

Rin suddenly had a thought occur. "You didn't know he was gonna do this didn't you?"

"The style seems similar to Goken. However there are the slight differences that indicate that this isn't Goken. The stance would be the first indication of the difference. He holds his strong arm in a closed fist towards his opponent. As I said he has an impressive defense. His defense is a fast, fierce and strong offense. Naruto-kun doesn't need to know what his opponent can do; he doesn't need to distract himself with trying to predict his opponents attacks nor is he going to over think things with waiting for the right time to execute a complicated counter or arm manipulation." Gai gave an appreciative smile.

"All he needs to do, all he has done is to see the attack coming and stop it dead in its place with his own attack. He hasn't committed a set style of moves to his own memory. He's has committed an instinct, an understanding to his body, to his muscles…"

"An understanding on what to do, to act upon an incoming attack by stopping it with his own attack, it's so simple and yet not an easy feat to accomplish. It seems Naruto-kun didn't spend a month learning to master Goken. He spent that month taking in what he needed from that fighting style and added it to his own move set."

Rin took all that Gai had to say and smiled warmly at Naruto down at the arena. 'Naruto-kun you are amazing, I've seen what your kenjutsu style is and what you can do with it. It's a wild and unpredictable force and yet it has a method. It shows your free spirit, shows that you are not willing to bind yourself, to limit yourself. You've taken what you've learned from Gai and made it your own.'

XXXXXXXXXX

For just a moment Naruto and Neji held their distances against one another. Both taking deep breathes. Neji saw the calm and controlled expression in his opponent's eyes. He saw unclouded focus, but he knew better than that, Naruto's eyes said nothing. But his fists spoke volumes. Naruto's fists and feet carried all his anger and rage.

Focused like a precision weapon. Naruto didn't allow any attack of Neji's to get through. Like a dog tied to a post, Neji felt so restrained and trapped. Every time he got closer for the kill, it felt like a leash on his collar was forcibly yanking him back with every single blow Naruto landed on him. The concept was simple and even the execution. It was making him irritated and annoyed, he was getting mad.

'Damn this dobe…' Neji took another deep breath, his right eye twitched as the wound above it continued to bleed. Everything he could see with his right eye was becoming a red haze. It was like a particular spot of his sphere of vision was now colored red. 'And damn this blood, getting hard to focus my right eye.'

Naruto noticed the twitching in Neji's right eye was becoming more and more rapid. 'Looks like it's time to put the little theory to the test. Now the real offensive begins.'

Naruto went from hoping on his feet in his fighting stance to a running dash forward. He delivered a series of quick punches with his leading hand. Neji was on the defense blocking every incoming attack from Naruto. At the moment of being blocked, Naruto quickly retracted his fist and sprung it forward in mere milliseconds.

Neji decided he needed to counterattack quickly. Catching Naruto's right fist, he held firm as he delivered an open palm strike ready to strike multiple tenketsu in Naruto's chest. Naruto's lips curled just a tiny bit, just enough to look like a small smile.

'Gotcha!'

Neji fell for the bait, his attack was not only intercepted with Naruto's left fist, and he found his wrist locked in an iron grip. Right behind the interception of Neji's attack was Naruto's left leg closing in for a quick and powerful kick to the hip bone. Neji clenched his teeth tight, feeling the pain shoot through his body. Despite his Byakugan showing him everything that Naruto was doing. It failed to help him stop Naruto's offensive. Neji could then see Naruto's head come crashing into his own forehead, directly on his open head wound.

BAM!

"Ahh!" Neji yelled in pain and anger. He was instantly reminded of how his first meeting with Naruto and fight with the blonde had gone. Reminded that it was this same unorthodox attack that had struck him down, and now the second time around the pain from the attack hurt more. The gash Naruto left on his head was gradually widening and deepening with each and every successive hit to the wound, drawing out more and more blood and further staining Neji's once pearl like right eye, turning it into a crimsoned orb.

Naruto let go of Neji, stumbling back on his feet, struggling to recover and recompose his stance. Naruto wasn't done with his opponent, not by a long shot.

The Hyuuga could see Naruto coming, he was after all still in his field of vision. So far it didn't seem to help much at all. But suddenly as Naruto made a bee line towards him, the blonde ninja started look like a red hazy figure. It almost looked like he was fading away. He could see Naruto's outline but his body almost losing detail. Naruto was like a red blur.

'What the hell is this? Is he moving faster? Or is he using some sort of genjutsu?'

From what he could tell Neji could make out that Naruto was sending out more strikes. Neji did what he could to block and hit back. His efforts were met more fierce opposition. And having difficulty being able to fully see Naruto further complicated things for Neji. He could feel his head spinning in all directions with punch after punch being piled onto his right eye and the head wound he had. With every successive hit, it became harder and harder to see Naruto. He was becoming more and more blended with the red that his right eye could only see.

To finish up the chained attack, Naruto kicked Neji in the side of his leg forcing it to bend. No longer standing erect, Neji's head was closer to the Naruto's lower body. Another kick was unleashed, this time driving right into Neji's skull, in particular his right eye and open head wound.

Knocked down with the side of his head in the dirt, Neji struggled to push himself off the ground. He was worn and weary at this point. All of Naruto's counter-offensive moves were taking their toll on Neji's body. His forearms and shins were bruised and battered, and his head was spinning out of control. Those in the audience who had a good enough look, could see the mangled condition the right side of Neji's face, the impact zone of most of Naruto's punches and kicks was in. What started off as a gash just a few millimeters big was now widened and stretched along the outer line of Neji's eye socket. The head wound was bleeding rapidly was easily invading Neji's right eye as well as causing an alarming dizzying and disorientating effect.

XXXXXXXXXX

'Holy crap! Nee-san's boyfriend has seriously kicked the crap out of Neji. It could be luck but even luck has its limits doesn't it? Neji-nii was always looked at as the Hyuuga Prodigy; he was the clan's counterpart to Uchiha Sasuke. And now the guy that was considered the dead last just kicked and punched the snot and blood right out him. I guess the labeling of dead last was a misconception.'

Hanabi was lost in her own thoughts before her father sitting next to her made a low growl.

"That's enough out of you Neji, stop fooling around and destroy this buffoon already." Hiashi said in a low but extremely angered tone.

'Wow…good thing I kept all that to myself, Otou-sama obviously isn't too happy about this.' Hanabi had a sudden sweat drop down the side of her head.

XXXXXXXXXX

"H-how…" Neji struggled to say as he got back on his feet. "How the hell did you do that…what sort of Genjutsu was that?"

Naruto gave a confused look to Neji, not one to mock but an honest confused expression. Others in the audience namely the Rookie 9 and Jounin with them were also thrown off by Neji's question as well. Naruto suddenly realized something from Neji's sudden question.

"What genjutsu? Didn't I tell you I wasn't gonna use any tricks? Maybe I hit you a few times too hard in the head." Naruto said in a matter of fact manner.

Neji then had a thought occur; he could see Naruto now in his field of vision. But then he tried to focus on Naruto with just his right eye alone. It was next to impossible to see Naruto with his right eye, the red spot in his field of vision was now a blind spot for him, one big enough for a person to hide in.

"How did you do that? How did you do that to my eye?" Neji exploded at the realization of what was happening.

Naruto's honestly confused expression returned to his face. "Honestly I don't know what you're talking about. Not like I used something on your right eye, I just kept hitting it. Go figure you'd have a hard time seeing me with that eye all busted up now and covered in blood."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Genius…" Gai mumbled softly. Nobody was sure what Gai meant by what he had just said. Hinata on the other hand made a slight gasp when everything was coming together.

"Simply genius! Naruto-kun's youthful mind has come up with a plan so simple but so clever." Gai said happily while clenching his fist.

"What the hell are you babbling about you green spandex freak!" Kiba yelled.

"Ah Inuzuka-san, it's alright if you do not understand. But I'm rather sure Hinata-san here has already figured it out. After all only those that know of the Hyuuga weakness would be able to figure out what has just happened. But I will explain."

Everybody just looked Gai like he went off the deep end. Accept for Hinata, and Rin who was getting a pretty good idea on what was happening.

"You see over the years of training Neji-kun. I've learned a few things about the Byakugan. Among those things is one of its weaknesses and that is the small blind spot the field of vision the eyes create has just above the neck. Whether or not Naruto-kun knew of this weakness does not matter, for it is not an easily exploitable weakness. But it seems Naruto-kun needed an opening to truly unleash his offense, with no opening available, he created one. He made a blind spot that could be exploited."

"But how did he do that?" Sakura asked not fully understanding how Naruto could accomplish such a thing.

"Sakura-chan, Naruto just said it himself. All he did was keep hitting Neji in his eye. True the Byakugan can see through just about anything that tries to block it. But Naruto wasn't trying to block anything. He's damaged Neji's right eye and now it's created a blind spot. All that blood that's been getting into his eye, it isn't something that Neji's right eye can see through, it's not an obstruction, it's something that is directly affecting it." Rin smiled like a mother proud of her child.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Damn you…this ends now. This fight is over now; I'm going to finish you!" Neji yelled as he prepared to strike down Naruto with everything he had.

"Funny I was about to say the same thing to you Neji."

"This isn't some joke! I've been holding back against you long enough. Your little ploy to disable my right eye will not guarantee you anything. I'll crush you right here and now with my own hands. You're within the field of my Hakke!"

Neji exploded from the ground; he was within arm's length of Naruto in mere moments. Naruto stood his ground holding firm to his fighting stance. Neji made sure to keep Naruto within his field of vision, making sure not to focus his right eye on his opponent to keep him from hiding in his blind spot.

"Two strikes!" Neji yelled as both his arms zoomed in on Naruto, index and middle fingers extended, ready to close off vital tenketsu.

Everything seemed to slow down for just a few moments. Neji closed straight in for the kill. He would strike and close down 64 tenketsu and shut down Naruto's chakra flow. Naruto stood there as the first jyuuken strike closed in. As if springing to life Naruto hoped on his feet, moving just a step back to give himself all the space needed. Naruto's left fist shot straight into Neji's right hand, directly into his extended fingers.

CRACK!  
SNAP!

There was a loud sickening series of bones snapping and breaking. The pain was fast and relentless, Naruto's fist plowed straight in between Neji's index and middle finger. They were broken and bent in ways a normal set of fingers wouldn't be. If it wasn't for flesh and skin, Neji's two fingers may as well have fallen off on their own.

The counter-attack itself wasn't without its fall back for Naruto. Chakra at the tip of Neji's fingers still struck into Naruto's left fist. The tenketsu in Naruto's hand were shut off and a profound numbing feeling affected Naruto's hand. However the young nin was going to bite the bullet and move forward. Breaking Neji's fingers wasn't the end of it. It seemed that Naruto's right fist was still held firm and extended forward towards his opponent.

Neji moments ago wasn't concerned that he was less than an inch away from Naruto's right fist. He felt that it wouldn't matter because he was going to strike down Naruto with a chain of jyuuken strikes. But now that his special technique was stopped so abruptly by a simple punch. Neji was now in Naruto's range.

"Hyyyaaahhh!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs as his right fist with only an inch of allotted space exploded into Neji's chest.

BAM!

"Guuuaaahhh!" Neji choked out saliva and air from his mouth.

It all happened so fast for Neji. The whole scene before everyone had all taken mere seconds to occur. At the moment of stopping Neji's attack, Naruto's fist struck so fast that there wasn't enough time for Neji to scream in pain from his two broken fingers. And now Neji was literally off of his feet, thrown into the air. So much force and power had struck Neji that as he fell onto the ground; his body tumbled and rolled across the dirt from the sheer force of impact.

'Damn that was one hell of a hit…' Genma thought to himself as he was the closest person to the fight to see everything happen.

The Proctor watched closely as Naruto started hoping on his feet again. Genma could see how deeply Naruto's feet were dug into the dirt. The blonde had barely moved at all as he hit Neji right then and there harder than he had the entire match.

Neji clenched his teeth tightly trying to bear with the pain that assaulted his body. Two of his fingers were broken in such a way that it would take a miracle to make them usable again. And his chest was going to have the largest and nastiest bruise Neji would ever see. Naruto had literally punched all the air out of Neji's chest. The Hyuuga was forced to exhale from the overpressure.

'Damn you…damn you…how can this be happening…' Neji thought angrily struggling once again to get back on his feet.

It seemed Neji was now becoming quite acquainted with the ground considering how many times he was knocked down. He looked at Naruto; he was expecting him to say something. He was expecting Naruto to have something to say after once more making him look like a novice in front of the whole village. One punch, one punch was all it took for Naruto stop one of Neji's best techniques. And it took another punch to send him back into the ground. Neji looked at Naruto's eyes and once more only saw calm control. There was now anger in his words or his eyes. But every single blow he received conveyed the anger that Naruto used like a weapon.

CRACK!  
CRACK!

Neji forcibly repositioned his broken fingers, snapping broken bones back into place to look less dangled. Neji grunted and coughed in pain, his right arm shaking uncontrollably.

"I…I will not lose to you. Fate cannot be defied and I will crush you. My force of will and my destiny will not be stopped by you!" Neji said with determination through the fatigue and pain that riddled his being.

Neji rushed towards Naruto. Determined to win, determined to move forward. He knew using the finger jabs with his right hand would be ill advised, but he could still do open palm strikes. Once he neared Naruto he struck.

Naruto quickly delivered a swift kick with his right foot that struck the outside of Neji's right arm, once more stopping the Hyuuga's attack. Soon as Naruto's foot touched back down to the ground, it went right back up and smashed into the left side of Neji's head. Once more he was off balance but Neji stayed on his toes and recovered as quickly as he could.

'You're going down, no way around it. This ends now.'

Naruto charged in, letting out a cry as he launched another high kick. Neji this time blocked, keeping the leg from striking his head. His foot touching down quickly, Naruto continued his assault.

A chain of punches came at Neji who tried to block all the strikes. He was successful in blocking the hits until pain shot through his right hand. Blocking the hits had caused more damage to Neji's already broken two fingers.

"Watah!"

Another opening, another left and right hand combo, Neji's chest was pelted with hit after hit. Naruto finished up his assault with a two hand shove that forced Neji to stumble more on his feet. Pushing him away and giving space for a dead charge. Naruto ran in low and tackled Neji. Locking his arms around Neji's waist, Naruto stood up straight picking Neji off his feet for just a brief moment.

SLAM!

Naruto brought Neji up into the air for just a second and brought him crashing down into the dirt like a ton of bricks. Neji choked once more as the air in his lungs was forced out by impact. Naruto was now on top of him and immediately started pummeling his downed opponent. Naruto was on his knees above Neji who had his back on the ground and he was now receiving the beating of his life.

XXXXXXXXXX

Everybody watched the brutal beating Neji was receiving and listened to the loud and audible sound of flesh impacting flesh. Neji's face was getting bruised and cut from every single punch dropped down on him. There wasn't much to be said by anyone, they were in awe at how someone like Naruto could have Neji in such a predicament, in such a postion.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto continued to lay down the beating on Neji, he had to counter or end up having his head beaten into a bloody pile of meat. Using his left hand Neji caught and held Naruto's right hand. The blonde attacker was struck in the upper chest by an open palm Jyuuken strike. Neji shut down multiple tenketsu in Naruto's chest. Still holding firm Neji rolled on his back and forced Naruto onto the ground. It seemed it was Neji's turn to pummel Naruto and he intended to shut down as many tenketsu as possible.

'Big mistake.' Naruto thought as he grinned for just a moment.

Neji kept his left hand pinning down Naruto, making sure to avoid Naruto taking advantage of Neji's broken fingers. Naruto quickly used his left hand to grab Neji's wrist. Not fully knowing what Naruto was going to do, he assumed he was going to try and pry his hand off of him. Neji drove his right hand forward ready to hit Naruto with another open palm strike. However Neji's attack was stopped short. Naruto's right hand was underneath his own left forearm, having caught Neji's right arm by the wrist.

"Gotcha again!" Naruto yelled.

With his arms crossed over Neji's arms, Naruto brought down his own arms, securing Neji's arms to his chest. Neji tried to pull out but he was trapped, his arms were locked against Naruto's chest. Neji attempted to stand up but soon found out that Naruto interlocked his legs around his back, there was no escape. Naruto kicked the sole of his left geta into the side of Neji's waist, shifting and moving his own weight to the left side of his body.

BAM!

Naruto chopped Neji in the side of his neck with his left hand. This forced Neji's head to move to the left. The blonde nin brought up his legs, keeping his right leg against Neji's ribcage, his left leg moved up and around Neji's head, trapping Neji' cranium in the crease of his left knee, Naruto kept Neji's arms trapped. Pulling on Neji's arms and pushing his head with his leg. Naruto rolled Neji over, his opponent's back on the ground once again. Naruto had Neji's left arm between his own legs. Neji's head was trapped underneath Naruto's legs. He was trapped in an arm bar.

"This is where things come to a close!"

Naruto slowly leaned back applying slow and painful pressure to Neji's left arm, bending it in a direction that a person's arm normally wouldn't go.

"This is where things are really gonna start hurting!" Naruto yelled.

"This won't stop me!" Neji yelled as he brought his right arm to close the tenketsu in Naruto's legs.

"Idiot!" Naruto screamed out as he forced Neji's left arm all the way.

CRACK!  
SNAP!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Neji screamed bloody murder after Naruto snapped his left arm like a twig. Naruto let go of the broken arm and rolled on his back and was on his feet again. Naruto kept his stance up while Neji struggled to get up, pushing off the ground with his right arm trying to avoid using his broken fingers. Using his right hand, Neji did the best he could to firmly grip his broken left arm. Only able to use his thumb, ring finger and pinky. Neji squeezed and pulled as hard he could in one go.

CRACK!

"Gaaaaahhhh!"

Neji looked like he was about to pass out after he just barely managed to put the broken bones in his left arm back into place. He was a complete mess now, half his face covered in blood, his right eye black and red out, two fingers and an arm broken.

Naruto on the other hand was faring better. He was breathing a bit hard; the Jyuuken strike to his chest was taking effect. But other than that Naruto was ready to keep going.

"T-this…i-isn't…over…" Neji said between strained breaths.

"So you want to keep going huh?" Naruto asked his tone showed no sarcasm.

"Far be it for me to tell you to give up or stop here and now. If this is what you want then so be it. I wouldn't give up either. But know this, from here on in; I'm going to beat you into the ground." Naruto dropped into his fighting stance ready to deliver the next attack. It took a few seconds and Naruto within striking range of Neji.

"Hakkeshou Kaiten!" Neji yelled out as visible blue chakra was released from his entire body; he spun in a rapid speed creating a whirlwind vortex.

Naruto was thrown off his feet and onto the ground rolling across and kicking up dirt. As he rolled Naruto slammed his hands into the dirt and pushed off, recovering and landing on his feet in a crouch. His body was showing disorientation from taking the brunt of the surprise attack.

"You w-won't be able…to hit me…again…" Neji struggled to say while having a weak grin on his face.

'That knocked the wind out of me, pretty damn strong despite the ragged condition he's in. He shouldn't have held back against me like that. He might have been able to even the match out.' Naruto thought to himself as he shook off the attack he was caught in moments ago.

"Are you sure about that Neji? How long do you think you can keep that up?"

"I'll keep this going until you lose!" Neji yelled with flames in his eyes and throat.

Naruto gave a genuine eye smile. "That's at least one thing I can respect about you. Even if it's just one thing, your stubbornness, your refusal to give up, I can respect that about you."

"However that doesn't change a damn thing. This match is gonna end with one of us still standing." Naruto said with a dead serious tone. His eyes locked onto Neji, Naruto blew right at the broken Hyuuga like a bullet.

XXXXXXXXXX

"He won't break through that technique, that thing threw his ass like a ragdoll." Kiba said as he saw Naruto get knocked back a second time by Neji's Hakke.

Suddenly a chill shot down Kiba's spine as he realized some deathly glares were focused on him. He saw Hinata and Haku give him a cold stare. No words were spoken but Kiba got the message.

"It's a desperation move." Shino said calmly. "There's nothing else Neji-san can do. His body is past the breaking point. Of course that doesn't mean his chances of victory are nil. It really comes down now to who will outlast the other. Naruto-san intends on keeping to what he stated earlier. He will not use anything other than his fists. So who will fall first, Naruto to Neji's Hakkeshou Kaiten or Neji to his own worn and beaten body?"

"Good observation Aburame-san. That is precisely what it boils down to now." Gai said with an anticipating smile.

XXXXXXXXXX

It was a test of stubbornness now. By this time Naruto was starting to show his own weary condition. It was at least the sixth time he was tossed off his feet and bounced off the ground trying smash through Neji's defense with his bare fists. And Neji was looking more worn than ever. He could barely stand, with every passing second his knees were dropping lower and lower.

Naruto shook off his own disorientation like a dog shaking the water off his fur after a bath. Neji forced himself to stand up straight. This was the deciding moment now. The final blows would be struck.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he came at Neji like a raging bull.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Neji screamed with every ounce of energy he had as he prepared to unleash another Hakke, determined to knock Naruto down for good.

CRASH!

Naruto's fist smashed right into the rotating sphere of chakra. He kept pushing his fist and himself forward refusing to let the technique throw him back like it had before. Neji put all he had into his Hakkeshou Kaiten, his clincher, his show stopper that he had no intention to use against Naruto but was now his desperation move. He put all he had into it…

BAM!

And it was not enough; there wasn't enough chakra in the technique. Naruto was in front of him and his fist was dug into Neji's left cheek. He retracted his arm back and struck Neji in the abdomen with his right foot.

"Hyyyaaah!"

Naruto didn't let Neji stumble back very far without delivering a four hit combo with his left and right fist into the Hyuuga's face and chest. Neji made a futile effort to try and stop Naruto with his right hand. Naruto didn't bother to even counter; he punched Neji in the gut with his right fist and quickly connected another punch to Neji's face, blood and saliva flying out of his mouth.

BAM!  
BAM!  
BAM!  
BAM!  
BAM!

Another chain of punches showered Neji's face. Naruto grabbed the collar of Neji's jacket and threw him to the left keeping Neji from falling back. As he grabbed and threw Neji by the collar Naruto punched him across the face. The blonde was completely relentless as he quickly followed with another kick straight into Neji's chest. Without saying it, Naruto wasn't going to let Neji fall back onto the ground, he wasn't done yet. Grabbing his collar once more Naruto unleashed a chain of kicks to the Hyuuga's chest. After multiple kicks, Naruto brought his foot down and immediately kicked with his other foot right across Neji's head.

THUMP!

Neji fell face down into the ground; he managed to tilt his body enough that gravity would roll him onto his own back. He coughed up more blood and spit, he wasn't going to be able to stay conscious for long. Neji feebly tilted his head up just enough to see Naruto as he ran right at him. Naruto jumped into the air just above Neji.

"HYYAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Everybody in the audience held their breathes watching what was about to happen. Naruto was going to deliver the final blow. He would bring down the full force of his body right down on Neji's chest.

XXXXXXXXXX

SLAM!

Neji was too tired and beat to facially express the surprise he felt. Naruto's feet were at the sides of his chest as oppose to being directly atop crushing it in. Naruto snatched up Neji's collar with his left hand.

BOOM!

Naruto drove his right fist into spot of dirt next to Neji's beaten head. Almost his entire fist was buried in the ground.

"…W-why…? Fi…finish it!" Neji screamed feeling like death was the only appropriate end to this match now. It took all this unrelenting abuse to make him accept that the match was over and wouldn't end in his favor.

"No…" Naruto said firmly.

"As much as I would want to, there are some people who would be sad with you being dead. And that includes Hinata. You treat her like crap and you even tried to kill her. But she still cares for you. You may have turned your back on your own blood but she refuses to do the same. I know why you act the way you do…"

As if a spark of energy ignited some small reserves Neji still had somewhere in his body, he snapped. "Shut up! You don't know a damn thing about what I've had to…"

SMACK!

"No, you shut up." Naruto said calmly as he smacked Neji across his bruised and battered face.

"She told me what happened to your father. Hinata told me how he was executed in place of Hiashi. Listen to me, you have every right to be mad and to hate others. But it's the wrong people you are aiming your hatred at…" Naruto narrowed his eyes on Neji.

"But what do I know? I won't waste my time trying to convince you that you need to hate someone else for your tragic loss. No…" Naruto said.

"But I will tell you I defied…no I crushed your so called "fate." This belief you had that the outcome of this match was already decided. Maybe you could have won if you had put your all into it. This wasn't a clash of wills. This was a clash of my will to win and your blind belief that your victory was already decided. Maybe if you had fought with true determination, showed you truly were willing to do what you had to win, instead of just saying you would win, the outcome might have been different. If you needed someone to blame for the loss and the beating you received. It was you and you alone."

Naruto let go of Neji and walked towards his Bo staff, he pulled it out of the ground and then kicked his kunai holster into the air and caught it with his other hand.

"One more thing…" Naruto turned his head to glance at Neji.

"Besides my will to win, you should know I had to get you back for what you did to Hinata. Don't ever even think about laying a single hand on her again, because next time I will kill you. No one tries to hurt my Angel. No one…"

"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!" Genma declared.

Everyone in the audience cheered at once. No one accept for a select few were expecting Naruto to win. Not only did he win, he beat his opponent into the ground. In the end many in the crowd enjoyed the brutal match and yelled in excitement. The first match in the Finals did not fail to meet expectations.

Hinata and Haku happily clapped and held warm and affectionate smiles towards Naruto. They knew that their lover would win and they were right. The medics rushed to the center of the arena and carefully brought Neji onto a stretcher and quickly carried him away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Naruto made his way into crowded stands to meet up with the others. Along the way people were still cheering for Naruto. In the back of his head he felt these feelings wouldn't last for long, after all more than 12 years of hatred doesn't just disappear after one match. But Naruto couldn't help but smile though.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun…" Hinata said warmly as she stood from her seat seeing Naruto approach.

The blonde nin pulled his mask down and gave a genuine smile. Hinata blushed and melted at the sight. She wrapped her arms Naruto as he neared and gave him a deep loving kiss. Rin and Kurenai "awed" at the couple in front of them. Kurenai took as many snapshots with her mini-camera as she could. When Naruto and Hinata broke the kiss, Haku was standing beside the couple.

"You were amazing Naruto-kun, there was no doubt you would win." Haku kissed Naruto lightly on the lips. She smiled at Naruto.

"I'll give you a real "congratulations kiss" later. For now we should take our seats." Haku said happily.

The three of them took their seats. Hinata and Haku were on each side of Naruto; both had their arms wrapped around Naruto's arms.

"Lucky bastard…" Kiba mumbled as he enviously watched Naruto sit with two women that loved him.

XXXXXXXXXX

As the Finals moved forward, a decision between the Kages was made and the match between Sasuke and Gaara was pushed back to the end. Both participants were given until then to show up. The next match was between Shino and Kankurou. However because preparations the Puppet Master had made for the planned Invaision. He couldn't afford to waste his resources against one man. Kankurou declared a forfeit. Although Shino remained his calm stoic self, he was deep down disappointed to advance forward in the Finals in such a way.

The following match between Temari and Shikamaru proceeded. Initially Shikamaru was going to forfeit as well not wanting to deal with a troublesome woman as he called her. However as he was about make his declaration when Naruto did a forward kick straight into the Nara's backside. Knocking him right into the arena and the match started from there, Shikamaru quietly cursing Naruto.

The match went on and it quickly became a strategic game of cat and mouse. Shikamaru proved his calculating and strategic ability was effective in this match against Temari. It also helped that his opponent was somewhat distracted with her own thoughts about her younger brother. In the end however despite his win being nearly at hand. Shikamaru declared defeat for himself once he made it apparent he exhausted all his chakra using his Kage Mane throughout the match trying to trap Temari.

XXXXXXXXXX

…Meanwhile…

Inside the stadium infirmary Neji sat upwards in his bed. He left arm was bound up in bandages and put in a temporary cast. His broken fingers were also wrapped straight up together. Most of his head was also wrapped as well. Some Medic-nins had managed to heal up Neji's head injuries with some jutsus enough that his face was recognizable.

Beside him on the bed was an open scroll written by his father and addressed to him, Hiashi had come by and given the scroll to him feeling that it was time for his nephew to read it. Neji was deep in his own thoughts sitting there. His father wasn't murdered and betrayed, he had given up his life willingly to protect his brother. His father chose to defy fate as well.

"Knock, knock." A woman's voice said as the door to the infirmary opened.

"Tenten…" Neji said his teammate's name.

"The one and only." Tenten took a seat on the bed Neji was on.

Neji gave a light smile. "Tell me Tenten. Why did you fall in love me?"

Tenten blinked a few times, she was surprised to be asked such a question out of nowhere. "Why the sudden question?"

"Because I want to know why you would fall in love with a fool like me…" Neji said slowly.

"Neji-kun you're not a fool, what would make you…" Tenten was cut off.

"I am a fool. I spend so many years making claims about fate and destiny and yet my father defied fate and his destiny so many years ago. He chose to die freely, not bound by the ways of the clan." Neji said as a single tear rolled down his left eye.

Tenten smiled warmly and wrapped her arms around Neji carefully, making sure not to cause any pain for her lover. She gently kissed Neji's lips.

"Nobody's perfect Neji, nobody. I have my reasons for falling in love with you. Just accept that for now."

XXXXXXXXXX

Back at the stadium the crowd was getting restless. For quite a few, disappointment was apparent. The crowd was psyched up by Naruto and Neji's match. But Kankurou forfeiting his match and Shikamaru declaring defeat in his near victory, people wanted to see the Last Uchiha against the son of the Kazekage. They wanted a spectacular match. But at the moment that may not come.

"If Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara do not report to the arena in 5 minutes, both will be disqualified!" Genma announced.

XXXXXXXXXX

Everybody watched and waited for someone to show up. In the Hokage's booth Sarutobi couldn't help but feel that the Kazekage only chose to have his son's match postponed just to please the crowd. To him it felt like the Kazekage was buying time for something.

XXXXXXXXXX

The minutes ticked away till only one minute was left. Genma counted down the seconds, with neither shinobi having shown up yet. With only a few seconds left Genma was ready to declare both nins disqualified. Until suddenly a swarm of leaves blew in and swirled in the center of the arena, Genma paused as he looked at the spinning foliage.

"Sorry we're late everyone." A familiar laid back tone spoke. It was Kakashi and next to him was Sasuke dressed in a black version of his usual outfit, he had his ninjato strapped to his back and bandages wrapped around his arm and legs.

"Uchiha Sasuke reporting in." Kakashi said for his student.

"Che…" Genma agitatedly chewed on his senbon. "You have no idea how close you were going to get disqualified Uchiha-san. So then…"

"Uchiha Sasuke is the Winner!" Genma yelled to the audience.

"What?" Sasuke said surprised. Kakshi's eyes widened just a bit in reaction.

"Your match was pushed back to the end. Neither you nor your opponent were anywhere in sight. You showed up at the last moment but no Gaara. Because of that you're winner by default." Genma said calmly.

"Wasn't expecting that…" Kakashi said honestly while rubbing the back of his head.

"Now then! Uzumaki Naruto, please report to the center arena. The next match shall begin momentarily!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Well now looks like I get to fight Sasuke-teme now. Tenshi-chan, Haku-chan, time to go fight another stubborn and ignorant ass, time to go." Naruto said as he got up out of his seat. He then made eye contact with both Hinata and Haku.

Before he could say anything both Hinata and Haku kissed Naruto on each cheek. "Good luck Naruto-kun, I know you'll win." Both women said at the same time.

Naruto gave a return kiss to each of the girls; he then quickly made his way to the arena to meet his opponent and sensei.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Tardy much?" Naruto asked sarcastically as he stood before Sasuke and Kakashi.

"Mou we did have to build up the suspense, though I suppose I miscalculated the entrance time. And I wasn't expecting Gaara-san to not show up." Kakashi said a little embarrassed.

"Go figure you'd say something like that." Genma retorted, showing his obvious distaste with Kakashi's reasons for being late.

"I suppose this is where I make my way to the stands." Kakashi said as he took off to join Rin before he would incur his junior's wrath.

"So then Sasuke-teme…" Naruto pulled his Bo staff off his back. "Been keeping up with your sword play?"

Sasuke gave a slight smile. "Dobe you'll be surprised at what I can do now with this blade." Sasuke drew out his ninjato.

Both shinobi had their weapons pointed at each other. Genma positioned himself ready to declare the start of the match.

"Uzumaki Naruto vs. Uchiha Sasuke, begin!"

BOOOOM!

The moment the match started a very loud explosion shook up the arena. The sound of more explosions followed. Naruto and Sasuke looked around to see that the blasts were nowhere near the stadium. Naruto looked up to see the audience in the stands was falling unconscious and the Hokage's booth covered in a large cloud of smoke. From the smoke the Kazekage jumped out with a kunai to Sarutobi's neck.

"_Not good!" _Minato yelled.

"Oh fuck." Naruto mumbled.

**AN: **_There you go ladies and gents. I finally updated. My promises fell apart but hey at least I finally got another chapter out. I have the new Anberlin and Linkin Albums to thank for that. That's what was playing while I was doing what I could to finish this update. I know I chopped up a lot of important parts that were shown in canon. But to me I think I would have wasted a lot of text typing what I couldn't make my own. _

Omake: Why Kyuubi's so quiet

"_Remember what he did Naruto, do not let that go. It is only understandable that one would be mad. But don't let that anger control you. Control your anger and use it like a weapon. Like tensing your muscles on impact of your strike, release your anger in controlled bursts. Show him that your fists and feet will be the ones expressing your true anger, your feelings, and your will."_

Minato finished speaking to his son. From here on in Minato would let Naruto go it alone. Minato then turned around to see his fellow "roommate" tied up with his mouth wrapped up in tape.

"_You…" _Minato pointed at Kyuubi. _"You're gonna keep your damn trap shut Furball. Don't need you ruining this."_

"_**Bastard!" **_Kyuubi managed to gargle out.

SMACK!

Minato swatted Kyuubi on the head with a rolled up newspaper.

"_What the hell did I just say you damn flea bag!"_


End file.
